Love Spoilers
by amtrak12
Summary: Warehouse 13 High School AU with a TiMER premise. - Myka won't fall in love just because some device on her wrist told her to so she wished everyone would stop turning her run-in with the new girl into such a big deal.
1. The Meeting

**Long-ass A/N:** **whereinthewarehouse** on Tumblr has been writing a great fic with this premise. I ADORE it and kept reading it until the concept became stuck in my head, forcing me to keep playing with it over and over and over again, making up my own canon for TiMER device and dreaming up different scenarios with it. It's based on a movie (predictably TiMER). I've only read the synopsis for it, but it sounded - well lame. Like a typical rom-com that just happened to have these TiMER devices. It didn't sound like it explored the repercussions of the device, like what **whereinthewarehouse** was doing in her fic. Anyway, eventually I played with the idea so much, I had to write my own fic with it. I borrowed the basic premise from the original fic (Myka not being happy about her TiMER going off), tweaked some character motivations, and dropped it into the high school AU setting I had dreamed up for another Bering and Wells fic that accidentally turned into an original story. (Pro Tip: Don't translate Christina into a high school AU as the little sister that was killed during a mugging. YOU WILL KILL WOOLY and run into all kinds of other repercussions you didn't expect and didn't want in a cutsey B&W romance. #mybad) I had a blast writing this, and I hope you enjoy it, too. :) In the future, I may write fics for other 'meeting your One' scenarios. I at least have a story for Pete's worked out. (And yes, Nicole, the story involves Pelty. PETE/PELTY FOREVER!) **(Update:** Added a tad more exposition and fixed a few typos. I'm certain the grammar still sucks. Sorry.)

"Well you look boring today," Pete said as she climbed into the passenger side of his truck.

"Good morning to you, too," Myka said, shutting the door.

"You aren't going to change?"

"Why?"

"Nothing, you're just," he waved his hand non-specifically, and Myka glanced down at her outfit. T-shirt, jeans, belt, tennis shoes, the gray armband covering her wrist. Nothing out of the ordinary.

"This is what I always wear."

"Exactly!" Pete said. "Ooo, you should go change into that blue shirt, the buttoned one. You look hot in it."

Myka narrowed her eyes. "Pete."

"I'm just saying!"

"We're going to school. I don't need to wear something different for school."

"Okay," Pete said and put the truck into gear. "But that shirt really shows off your figure."

"My figure? Why are you being so weird today?" Myka asked. "Oh god, did you watch another marathon of What Not to Wear?"

"Once! I got sucked into that once! And I've never watched it again."

"Clearly, because what is this?" Myka leaned over to fix the collar of his shirt.

"Hey! Leave it alone, it's cool again."

"Popped collars were never cool."

"Oh yeah? Which one of us has seen What Not to Wear?"

"You know you have powdered donut all over your mouth still?"

"What?" At the stop sign, Pete checked himself in the rearview mirror. "No, I don't."

Myka smirked when he glared at her.

"I didn't even have powdered donuts this morning," he grumbled.

"And yet, you still looked," Myka laughed.

—

The lunch period arrived. Pete already had a table claimed when Myka got in the cafeteria. She set her lunch box down and took the seat next to him. She could see Claudia and Steve were still in line.

"How do you get your food so fast?"

"I sweet-talked Mrs. Smoller into letting me out of class five minutes early." Pete grinned. "Perks of being a senior!" Myka rolled her eyes.

"So," Pete started around a mouthful of fries, "seen any new kids today?"

"New kids?" Myka unwrapped her sandwich. "No."

"New people?"

"Um, there was a new sub in English class who couldn't keep the class in line so that period was a complete waste."

"Nothing else significant happened with the sub?"

"No," Myka frowned. "Well, Dillon got up and started reading Great Expectations in that ridiculous Mickey Mouse voice he can do, which was kind of entertaining. But otherwise, no. It was just a fifty minute waste of time."

To Myka's confusion, Pete looked disappointed at this. Claudia and Steve came up, though, before she could question it.

"New kids at two o'clock!" Claudia said.

"What, where?" Pete looked to his left.

"My two o'clock."

Myka spotted her first. A girl with long black hair standing near the back of the cafeteria.

"It's a girl, though," Pete said, again, with disappointment which contradicted everything Myka knew about Pete.

"She has a brother," Steve said.

"Details, Jinksy. Now."

Myka glanced between the three feeling lost. It seemed like they had suddenly resumed an old conversation that they just assumed she was up to speed on.

"Well, he's a junior."

"Promising," Claudia said.

"And he just moved here from England, I think. He has an accent."

"Ooooo!" Both Pete and Claudia exclaimed.

"What are you guys talking about?" Myka asked

"Wonder why someone would move from England to Colorado?" Claudia mused.

"Well hopefully we'll find out." Pete craned his neck. "Where is he? Do I call him over?"

"Oh, no." It dawned on Myka what the others were gossiping about. "Seriously, you guys?"

"What?" Pete looked over at her.

"Someone's TiMER is due to go off today, isn't it?"

"Ummmm…." They all glanced away to stare at their food or the table.

"Unbelievable." They always did this. The entire school did this. If they knew that a TiMER was due to go off, it became this competition to be present when the supposed soul mates met. Everyone would talk about it and compare notes for weeks after. Then it became waiting and spying until someone saw the new couple hold hands or kiss or something that else that indicated a romance was brewing. At some point, that became the socially acceptable moment to begin hounding the couple with questions and begging for details of their relationship. The first few weeks of a new school year were hell, and it drove all the teachers and anyone like Myka who just plain didn't care and wanted to go to school to actually learn something, nuts because focus was shot to hell. It was October now, and things had finally settled down. Now it seemed there was a new student here to trigger a TiMER and send everyone into a frenzy again. Perfect.

Myka repacked her lunch and stood up. "Well, you guys have fun poking into people's personal lives. I'm leaving."

"You can't leave lunch early, Mykes!" Pete called after her. Myka turned around.

"But I can leave your table," she said, still walking away. Mind already on grabbing one of the back side tables that never get used, she turned again to walk straight and collided with somebody.

"Oh!" She managed to keep her grip on the lunch box, but her AP History book went tumbling along with the other girl's notebook and bottled soda.

"I'm sorry!" The soda was foaming and fizzing past it's seal, and Myka crouched down to set it upright. "I'm really, really sorry! I didn't see you."

"It's alright." The girl - the new girl Claudia had pointed out - said. She pulled the notebook back from the soda puddle. "My fault for opening a soda while walking." She flashed Myka a smile, but Myka was still focused on the mess.

"I'll get napkins." Myka looked around, momentarily spacing on where the napkins were kept. That's when she noticed the cafeteria din fading away and the loud beeping taking its place. She looked back at the girl who looked down at her wrist, the realization dawning over both of them.

The girl's TiMER was flashing zero.

"Oh." Myka stood. The girl's eyes followed her up. The girl's TiMER was going off. Which meant…. Her heart pounded in her ears. She glanced back to the table, maybe looking for reassurance, but all she saw were her friends gaping in stunned silence. Most of the other kids were doing the same, Myka realized now. The beeping suddenly stopped, the full minute since initial contact having apparently passed. She looked back to the girl who was standing now too.

"I have to go," Myka blurted. Then she spun and quickly walked to the nearest door. She didn't stop once in the hallway, in fact, she sped up. The teacher on lunch duty called out to her as she passed, but Myka ignored her. She was practically running now, heading to the girl's bathroom.

No one was inside when she burst in. Myka didn't take time to feel relieved at this. She moved straight to pulling off her arm band and checking her own TiMER. Sure enough, there were the harsh red dashes across its face indicating its expiration. It hadn't been a mistake or a coincidence. It had been her TiMER due to go off today. The shock of it left her numb, and she struggled to breathe. When she'd last looked at the device, there had been well over 700 days on the countdown.

"Crap," she whispered. "Crap, crap, crap, crap, crap." She looked around wondering what to do. Maybe if she had paid attention to the countdown, she would've been prepared. But she hadn't wanted to be prepared. She hadn't wanted to acknowledge the stupid TiMER with it's stupid life-dictating plans.

"Boy coming in!" The door opened and a voice called out. The boy walked in, and Myka could see it was Pete with his hands covering his eyes. "Don't worry, I can't see anything. And I'm not listening to anything either! I'm just looking for Myka - OW!" Myka had just punched him in the stomach, and Pete dropped his arms. She punched him again in the shoulder.

"What the hell, Myka?"

"You knew!" she yelled. "You knew my TiMER was going to go off today!"

"Yeah. Are you mad I didn't tell you?"

"I didn't want to know!"

"Okay, so I didn't tell you!" Pete looked baffled. "So why are you mad?"

"Because I didn't want to know!" The words echoed off the tile, and the two just stared at each other for a bit. Then Myka dropped her head in her hands.

"I don't know what to do, Pete. This wasn't supposed to happen."

"Hey, of course it was. It's okay." He wrapped his arms around her and gave her a firm hug. Myka moved so her arms weren't caught in the middle and tried to calm her nerves.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you it was going to go off today."

Myka shook her head and pulled away. "It wouldn't have mattered. I would've yelled at you either way."

"Hmm," Pete nodded. "Well, at least this way you didn't get the chance to skip school."

Myka pulled a face, mostly because she knew that would have been a strong temptation if she had known beforehand.

The door opened again for a sophomore girl to walk in.

"Excuse you, this is the girl's room!"

"Excuse _you_!" Pete replied. "My best friend is in emotional duress, and I'm trying to make her feel better."

The girl continued glaring at him. "Girls. Bathroom."

"Emotional. Duress."

"OMG Pete, just go." Myka shoved him towards the door.

"What I can't check on my best friend because I'm a guy? Girls get to chase down their best friends all the time."

"Ignore him. I'm sorry. Pete!"

"This is reverse sexism."

"It would still just be sexism."

"Really?"

Myka got him outside, and the sophomore slammed the door shut behind them. Or tried to: it didn't work properly because there was a catch on the door to prevent it from opening or closing too fast.

"Well, that was rude," Pete complained.

"It was the girl's bathroom. You weren't supposed to be in there."

"Well don't run into places I'm not supposed to be. Hey Claude."

Claudia and Steve had found them. Claudia was carrying Myka's things she'd left in the cafeteria.

"I wiped off the soda that got on your book," she said, handing the things over. "It still might be sticky, though."

"Thanks," Myka said. She felt stupid for running out of lunch like that. She shouldn't have made a big scene. But still she glanced around nervously, looking to see if that girl was anywhere nearby.

"How'd it go after we left?" Pete asked.

Claudia shrugged. "Everyone went back to their lunch and started talking again."

"Back to gossiping," Myka said.

"Probably," Claudia admitted. Myka noticed that Claudia didn't give any details of what had become of the new girl after she'd ran out. She couldn't decide if she was grateful for that or not. Then she glanced at the clock above the lockers.

"You have two minutes still," Steve said.

"But I haven't been to my locker, yet!" Myka's class was on the third floor, south wing. Her locker was on the opposite side of the building, first floor. She'd never make it to both in time for second bell. She decided being late to calculus was preferable to being on time without her calculator and book. "I'll see you guys later."

"What are you going to do about, you know?" Pete asked. Myka shrugged.

"We have class. I can't do anything right now."

"I meant later."

Myka ignored him and kept walking. She headed for the outdoor route to get to the other wing, hoping to avoid most of the students. It worked. No one was crossing outside this close to the bell, and when she finished switching books out at her locker, the second bell had rang, leaving the halls empty for her to get to class. She only walked in a couple minutes late which she considered a huge accomplishment given the kind of lunch she had had. A few students eyed her for longer than normal when she arrived, but luckily it was AP Calc and the class was mostly absorbed by what the teacher was writing about second derivations. There were no whispers or snooping inquiries. Everyone left her alone. By the end of class, she was almost feeling like nothing out of the ordinary had ever happened.

Then it was sixth period physics. Myka was sitting in her assigned seat and flipping her notebook open to a clean page when she heard it. A voice, solid and accented asking, "Do you have a free seat?" Myka jerked her head up to see the new girl talking to the teacher only a desk away. Myka tried not to panic. So she took physics too? That's fine. No big deal. Myka busied herself with locating her homework and readying it to turn in. The girl was given a seat two rows back to Myka's left, something Myka tried very hard to ignore as Mr. MacPherson began class. It was difficult, though. Myka was convinced the girl was watching her, even though the couple times she checked the clock behind her, the girl had been studiously taking notes.

"Ms. Bering," Mr. MacPhereson said after class. "Come see me for a moment." Myka gathered her books and crept up to the front desk while the other kids filed out.

"Is everything alright?" he asked. "You seemed distracted today."

"No, it's fine. Everything's fine." She threw out a smile and hoped he couldn't tell that she was right then worrying about who'd be waiting for her in the hall now that she was last to leave.

MacPhereson stared at her. "Good. Can't have the top student not paying attention in class. Remember, the rest of the class follows your lead. If you don't listen, they won't listen, and then where will I be?"

Myka nodded. "Sorry, Mr. MacPhereson. It won't happen again."

"Fine. Go on to class, then."

Myka bolted to the biology lab.

—

She walked into Mr. Nielson's history classroom at 3:20 feeling relieved she'd survived the day.

"What the hell are you doing here?"

Pete, apparently, didn't share her relief.

"Seriously, I know your mom taught you better manners than that."

"Pete," Mr. Nielson said without turning from the board. "What did I just hear you say?"

"Heck. I said heck."

Mr. Nielson glared at him over his shoulder. "Watch your language. There are small ears here."

Claudia snorted. "Right. Cause I've never heard the word hell before."

"Claudia!"

"So what the heck are you doing here, then?" Pete resumed.

"What do you mean? Am I not supposed to be here?" Myka asked.

"Uh duh!"

"Is cryptography canceled?"

"No."

"Then where exactly am I supposed to be?" Myka folded her arms. She was mentally daring him to say it.

Pete sighed. "Fine." He spun back in his seat and put his feet up on the desk in front of him.

"Alright, if everyone's here," Mr. Nielson paused when he saw Pete sprawled out, but only shook his head and moved on. "I thought we'd look at substitution ciphers today. Now the earliest substitution cipher appears to have originated in -" A light knock at the door interrupted the lecture.

"Yes, can I help you?" Mr. Nielson asked.

Claudia let out a little meep and clapped her hands over her mouth. Pete sat up straight and gaped at Myka. Myka's stomach sank, and she wondered when her life became an inescapable television show. The new girl standing in the doorway ignored these reactions and stepped forward a few steps to continue addressing Mr. Nielson.

"Hello," she said. "Is this the cryptography club I've been told about?"

Pete needed to stop staring at Myka or she was going to punch him again.

"It's not a club," Mr. Nielson said. "This is a pilot run for a cryptography class. These students are helping me fine-tune the curriculum."

"Well, if there's still puzzle-solving, I'm in," the girl grinned.

"Excuse me?" Mr. Nielson arched his eyebrow.

"Oh, I'm terribly sorry. You see, I'm new to this school, first day, and I'm looking to add something more challenging to my curriculum. My counselor said I didn't need to officially sign up for this class. I would only need the instructor's permission."

Mr. Nielson stared at her. Pete was practically bouncing in his chair, waving thumbs up signs at the man.

"So, may I join you?" the girl asked.

"No, I'm sorry. New students aren't allowed to join pilot runs." Mr. Nielson moved to shoo the girl out of the room, but she took a step that brought her further in and yet out of reach at the same time.

"But I understand you've allowed freshmen to take this class."

"Yes," Mr. Nielson said, eyes flicking towards Claudia and Steve.

"Are they not technically new to the school as well?" The girl tilted her head.

"Oooo," Pete said beneath his breath. "Nailed him." Myka could feel the unease blossoming into full-on panic again. Mr. Nielson wasn't really going to let the girl join the class, was he?

"Tell you what," Mr. Nielson said, "get settled in, adjust to your new surroundings and then maybe come see me in a week."

The girl kept her head titled, studying him. Finally, she said, "I'll see you in a week, then." and left. Mr. Nielson shut the door behind her.

"Artie!" cried Claudia. "That was mean!"

"Yeah, man, you could have at least let her sit in today," Pete said.

"Why? So you could spend the hour flirting with her?" Mr. Nielson snorted. "Please. I wasn't born yesterday."

"Believe me, no one thinks you were," Claudia said.

"Whoa, whoa, you think I wanted to flirt with her?" Pete said. "No, no, no, she wasn't for me. She was for Myka."

"Pete!" Myka gaped at him in disbelief.

"What?" Mr. Nielson said.

"Well, not like that exactly. I mean they probably weren't going to do any flirting. Probably just talk."

"Myka's TiMER went off at lunch," Steve supplied.

"Right!" Pete said. "It was her TiMER, and it was with that girl."

"That girl was Myka's One, Artie," Claudia said with a frown. "And you wouldn't let her stay."

"So this is still about your high school romances which I've told you repeatedly to leave at the door before you come in to class."

"No!" Myka said. "There's no romance. I don't even know her!"

"Regardless," Arite said, "TiMER related or not, your personal relationships do not interfere with classes."

"But Artie -" Claudia tried.

"What does the student handbook say about TiMERs?"

"Having a TiMER event is not considered an excused absence," Claudia said. "All classes must still be attended."

"But technically the girl was trying to get into class, not skip it," Steve said.

"Yeah!"

"The point is, you do not get special treatment just because your TiMER went off. This girl does not get to circumvent the rules just because she's Myka's One."

"She's not my One," Myka said. "And I didn't ask for special treatment."

Claudia continued frowning at Mr. Nielson. "Well, that's dumb. I'm protesting." She stood up and began walking towards the door.

"Where are you going?"

"Nope."

"Claudia Donovan, sit back down."

"Protesting!" Claudia stuck her fist in the air before walking out the door.

Everyone stayed silent while Mr. Nielson turned back to the rest of them. Then Steve spoke.

"Was I supposed to protest with her?"

"Not if you want to keep your World History extra credit."

—

"Shouldn't Mr. Nielson be more concerned about Claudia running off?"

"We're off school grounds. You can call him Artie again."

"I know she's a tough kid, but she's still only twelve."

"No worries," Pete said, suddenly taking a detour through somebody's yard. "I know exactly where she is."

Myka followed him, praying no one scolded them for trespassing. They cut through two yards and came out across the street from an old park that had been used before the city built the large, main park across town. It was small, only housing a run-down basketball hoop, a jungle gym from before they were outlawed, and a lone swing-set made of two swings. These swings were currently occupied by the missing red-head and the new girl from England that Myka was seriously suspecting of following her.

"Hey guys!" Claudia said as they approached. "We've been talking. She's really cool! And her name's Helena by the way, since no one's asked." She kicked her legs to get her swing started, and the girl - Helena - stood up.

"Hello. Claudia, here, insisted on showing me this park."

"Yeah, it's her favorite," Pete said.

"Cause no one comes here."

"Well, I'm Pete." He gave a small wave. Then he jerked his thumb. "And this is Myka."

"Hi," Myka said quietly. Helena smiled at her. Myka couldn't decide if it was a friendly sorry-we're-in-this-mess-together smile or a hello-new-love-of-my-life smile. God, she hoped it was the former.

"So how mad is Artie that I ran out?" Claudia asked.

"More than stealing all his chalk, but less than when you got stuck on the school roof," Pete said.

Claudia grinned at the reminder. "Totally manageable, then." She stood up in the swing and jumped backwards out of it so she didn't hit Myka.

"Alright, Lattimer, I need a ride home, and I'm shot-gunning you."

"Okay. My truck's back at school," Pete said as Claudia ran up and jumped on his back. "Oh! Hey, pipsqueak, a little warning next time."

"I said ride home," Claudia said and adjusted her grip around his neck. "What more warning do you need?"

"Ugh, okay kiddo. Let's go. See you guys," Pete said, turning away.

"Nice to meet you, Helena!" Claudia waved.

"Hey, lean forward or you're gonna take us both down!"

"Sorry!"

"Hey, what?" Myka watched them leave, feeling abandoned and all-too aware of Helena standing a few feet from her. She nervously glanced at the girl.

"Your friends seem nice," Helena said.

"Yeah, they're terrific." Myka frowned at Pete's and Claudia's retreating backs.

Helena took a measured step towards her. "I'm Helena Wells," she said and offered her hand.

"Myka Bering," Myka said. She briefly shook the girl's hand and then clasped her hands behind her back.

"There. Now we're more formally introduced." Helena smiled again.

"Yeah." Myka managed to quirk her lips up a bit in response. "Um, sorry. About before. You know, running out like that in the cafeteria."

"It's alright."

"Yeah, I, um, I'd left a book…" she trailed off and shook her head. "No. No, I didn't. I just ran." She thought she felt her face grow hot, but she wasn't sure if the blush was real or imaginary.

"Understandable," Helena said. "As I said, it's alright. And I'm sorry for disrupting your after-hours course. I swear, I wasn't following you. I was only looking for work that might actually be a challenge."

Myka tried to determine if she was lying or not, but she had trouble reading the other girl. Then, a different thought struck her.

"Oh my god, you're a girl!"

Helena arched her eyebrow.

"My TiMER went off for a girl." Myka clapped her hands to her face.

"Is that what the problem is?" Helena said with - of all things - a laugh. Myka had no idea what was so amusing about this.

"No! I mean, yes. Probably. I don't know!" Myka said. "I'm not gay, or I don't think I am. That's not what I've been freaking out about, though. I was just freaking out that my TiMER went off. I wasn't freaking about who it went off for, and now you're… you…" Her words faded into useless hand-waving. She felt petrified for an entirely different set of reasons than she had a few hours ago and settled for firmly crossing her arms across her chest. She eyed Helena warily.

Helena returned her gaze in silence for a moment. Then she glided forward a step.

"You don't have to worry, you know."

"What?"

"I'm not expecting some grand romance to start now that our TiMERs have gone off.

"Oh," Myka said. "Good."

"I was only curious to see what match the TiMER would make," Helena continued, "if it was worth pursuing."

Myka frowned. "So what, this was some sort of test?"

"More of an experiment, I'd say."

Myka's frown deepened, and Helena rushed on.

"Well, it seemed the only course since I was being forced into wearing the blasted device."

"You didn't want the TiMER?"

"No," Helena said. "My parents thrust it upon me as a sort of punishment."

"Why?"

"Do parents really need a reason to punish their child? It seems they can find any fault for an excuse," Helena answered. "Was it not your parents who forced you to have the TiMER?"

"What? Who said they forced me?"

"Your entire demeanor since our meeting. Most people I've met have been eagerly awaiting the clock reaching zero. You didn't seem very keen on the idea."

Myka looked down at the black box attached to her wrist. Her fingers drifted over to toy with the strap. "I'm not."

"Must be why we were paired up." Helena gave her a half smile when Myka looked up. Myka bit her lip.

"I didn't know it was going to go off today. I haven't looked at it since the week I got it. I've kept it covered up since then."

"No wonder you looked so startled," Helena said.

"Yeah." Myka looked away and crossed her arms again. The TiMER box bumped her arm. "Oh no!"

"What is it?"

"I left my arm band at school." Myka stared at her bared wrist. "Oh, no, I must have left it in the bathroom."

"Well, you could go get it. It's a short walk to the school."

Myka shook her head. "The building's locked by now."

"Oh, well you can still get it tomorrow, then."

"Yeah, but I need it. I don't want my parents to know." Unless they already knew. Myka couldn't be sure that they hadn't made special note of her countdown and looked the date up to see it would be today. Pete had so there was a chance her parents had too. Maybe a small chance, but still there.

"Ah," Helena said. "You don't want them to see your TiMER's gone off because they'll hound you with questions and insist on meeting me."

"Yes," Myka groaned. She really couldn't deal with her parents' reaction right now.

"You could borrow my jacket."

"What?" Myka turned back to her. "No. No, I couldn't."

"Of course, you can," Helena said. "It will cover the TiMER."

"But then my mom will just ask about the jacket."

"A jacket's easier to explain than an inactive TiMER."

Myka wavered.

"Here." Helena shrugged out of her jacket and held it out. "Take it. It's the least I could do for startling you with my presence."

"It's not really your fault," Myka said, but she accepted the jacket and slid it on. It fit her well, and definitely did the job of covering her TiMER.

"Thanks."

"Of course," Helena smiled. "It looks good on you." Myka eyed her. "From a completely platonic and objective standpoint."

"Okay, well I should get home," Myka said, wanting this encounter to end. She took a step towards the road. "My parents will be wondering where I'm at, and I need to call Pete because he still has my backpack in his truck." Helena nodded her understanding as Myka pulled out her phone. After waking it up, she saw she had a couple of texts from Pete.

_NEED ALL THE DEETS LATER_

_Heh that rhymed. btw I have your stuff still. Come get me later._

_I'm sitting at the school_

"Okay, apparently I'm meeting Pete back at the school." Myka frowned. "Wait, do you have a way home?"

"Don't worry," Helena said. "I'm sure my uncle's waiting in the school parking lot. He probably would've called by now except he hasn't given me a local phone yet."

"Oh okay, then. I guess we should walk back." The girls fell into step together, taking the proper path over roads and not through yards. Myka felt horribly awkward and didn't have a clue what she should say.

"You know," Helena said, "my uncle wouldn't be waiting on me if he had just let me driven myself to school."

"Didn't you just move here from another country?" Myka asked. "Do you even have a valid driver's license?"

Helena huffed. "That'd be why he didn't let me drive."

Myka bit back the urge to laugh at the annoyance on her face.

_TBC_


	2. Running Interference

**A/N:** Yes, I am making up my own rules for how the TiMER works. I needed something less mystical than what I gathered from the movie synopsis or my brain wouldn't accept it. Also, I made up the new culture and rules that high schools would adopt after TiMERs were utilized by the majority of the population. It was awesome. XD (like I-had-a-blast-awesome, not I-did-well-awesome. That's up to each of you to judge.) Sorry for the delay! I had to rewrite the lunch scene to be less chaotic. This chapter was checked over by **webuiltthepyramids**, but not hardcore proofread. I take the blame for any and all mistakes.

Her parents didn't say anything when she arrived home. Her mother didn't even comment on Helena's jacket except to say, "Oh, that looks cute on you." Myka avoided further conversation with the excuse of homework and closed herself off in her bedroom. She had just placed her backpack on her chair when the door opened again. Her sister walked over to the bed without bothering to push the door shut behind her.

"So, I heard your TiMER went off today."

"Tracy!" Myka rushed to check that no one heard her sister's announcement and then shut the door. "You're not supposed to be in here!" she hissed.

"Actually I am. Mom told me to tell you that dinner will be done in five." Tracy sat down on the bed and smirked. "I heard it went off for a girl."

"I'm not talking about this." Myka began sliding off the borrowed jacket.

"Ooo, is that her jacket?"

"Yes. I left my arm band in the school bathroom." She laid the jacket across the back of her chair and dug around for another arm band to wear.

"So she let you borrow her jacket. So chivalrous," Tracy sighed. "It looks really adorable too."

"Leave it alone!" Myka said when Tracy crossed over to take a closer a look.

"A cute jacket is a sign she has good taste," Tracy said.

"Yeah, that's not really important currently." Myka found her blue band and pulled it on over her wrist.

"Uh, duh. Good taste is always important," Tracy said. "You always want a guy to have good taste so that he can buy you nice jewelry and presents. I'm pretty sure that still applies even though your One is a girl."

"She's not my One! People need to stop saying that she's my One."

"Of course she is, you dummy. TiMERs don't go off for your Two. Or your Three."

Myka crossed her arms. "You're hilarious."

"They don't go off for Fours either."

"Tracy!"

"So what's her name? What's she like?" Tracy said. "Her last name's Wells, right? I saw her brother in the hall this afternoon. He was pretty cute so I'm assuming she's cute too." She let out a heavy sigh. "I don't know what you did to score a British chick, but I am insanely jealous. I want someone with an accent! But I totally want a guy, not a girl. Though, I don't know, would I go for a girl if it meant getting a hot accent?" Myka clenched her jaw during this tangent and tightened her fist.

"What part of 'I don't want to talk about this' do you not understand?"

Tracy looked scandalized. "Well I need to get all the details from you! You really expect me to go to school tomorrow without anything to tell? Besides, you're my sister. I want to hear this stuff from you and not from Katie or Shauna or somebody later."

"Oh, yay." Myka rolled her eyes.

"Oh, come on! Share with me! Just something. Anything."

"Fine," Myka said. "Her name is Helena. Helena Wells. And that's all you're going to get."

Tracy smiled and bounced on her feet in a way that almost made Myka wish she could be excited about meeting this girl.

"So did you really embarrass the both of you in front of the entire cafeteria?"

And the almost-excitement was gone.

"You know it wouldn't have been that embarrassing if the stupid TiMERs hadn't gone off." Myka huffed. "So stupid. This is all so stupid!"

"Are you kidding me? I'm dying for mine to go off," Tracy said. "But I still have four years. I've decided it's a professor now, by the way. It'll probably go off the first day of class. Or maybe we'll meet at the campus coffee shop. Either way, the college freshman and the professor - or oh! A TA! Yes. Can you imagine the awesome story I'd have?"

A knock interrupted and their mother peeked her head in the door. Myka clamped a hand over her TiMER even though her wrist was already covered.

"Dinner's on the table, girls. It's time to eat."

"Be right there," Myka smiled until her mother walked away. Tracy headed for the door, but Myka held her up.

"Don't tell Mom and Dad about this."

"Uh, this is pretty important. We're supposed to tell them."

"Yeah, I know, but not yet. Please don't tell them yet."

Tracy frowned.

"It's not like I even know her yet," Myka continued. "They're just going to ask a bunch of questions I can't answer."

"Fine." Tracy straightened her back. "But you have to introduce me to her tomorrow."

"Absolutely not!"

"Then I'm going to tell Mom and Dad."

"No!" Myka grabbed her arm. "Come on, please just do this for me?"

"Ugh, then at least tell me if she's hot or not."

"I can't judge that."

"Liar." Tracy rolled her eyes. "I bet her voice was all British-y and gorgeous like golden honey."

"Knock it off!"

"Well, then what grade is she in?" Tracy asked.

"Um." Myka thought back and realized she'd never asked. "Not a freshman?"

"That's seriously all you know? Not a freshman?" Tracy stared at her. "God, you suck at this." She walked into the hallway.

"Tracy!" Myka said, rushing after her.

"Don't worry! I'm not going to tell."

Myka sighed. "Thank you."

"Uh huh, but you have got to talk to her properly tomorrow or I'm going to disown you."

"Promise? Cause I would love to have that in writing."

—

Myka didn't speak to Helena the next morning. In fact, since their paths never crossed, Myka almost forgot the TiMER event happened. School was completely normal. Pete hit her up by her locker first thing, gushing details on the movies he had picked out for their weekly Movie Night (none sounded appealing, but his excitement for them suggested he, at least, would be entertaining to watch tonight). Her English teacher returned and rushed to get them caught up on the material the substitute hadn't covered. She had a quiz in AP U.S. History before the teacher sent them to the library to work on their essay due next week. Such periods were her favorite kind. Myka settled into a groove with her research and didn't want to stop when the bell rang for lunch. Unfortunately, this was high school, and she didn't have much control over her schedule. The bells still dictated how you divided your time. When she arrived at lunch, however, she wished she had broken the rules this once and stayed in the library.

"Myka! Oh my god, you need to come outside."

Myka looked up at the girl suddenly standing at her table. It was Cara from her sophomore chemistry class, but that didn't make Myka less confused. She didn't share any classes with Cara this year, and they had never shared any friends.

"Why?" she asked.

"Because," Cara lowered her voice, "Tracy is outside making out with Ryan Stolte."

Nope. Myka was still confused. "Tracy's not in this lunch period."

"Well, then she's skipping class too," Cara said. "Come on! You have to stop it!"

"What? I'm not Tracy's guardian. If she's skipping class, then let her get caught. Maybe she'll learn something from it."

"Yeah, skipping a class isn't the problem," Cara said.

Myka shook her head. "Then what's the problem?" Pete poked her shoulder, and she turned around.

"Ryan just started hooking up with Lisa Irving," he whispered.

"So?"

"So, that was only like a week ago, and I haven't heard anything about them splitting up yet. If Tracy's making a move on someone's new Makeout Buddy -"

"-then Lisa's going to be pissed and Tracy will get stuck with a bad rep for the rest of high school," Myka finished with a sigh. She weighed the options. She wanted her sister to take school more seriously; she didn't want her to be ostracized for the next four years. "Fine," she groaned. "I'll see what I can do."

"Okay great! Let's go." Cara actually tugged on Myka's arm until she stood up and then repeatedly checked over her shoulder that Myka was still following. It weirded Myka out. She didn't know Cara even knew Tracy, let alone was friends with her. Then again, Tracy seemed to be quickly making friends with everyone in the school.

They reached the vending machine area and the doors leading out to the front lawn. Cara opened the door.

"Okay, I got her!" She held the door open for Myka to walk outside. The lawn was surprisingly empty for the warm day. Only two people were out there, and they weren't Tracy and whatever guy she'd been trying to hook up with.

"Great!" said someone that Myka vaguely recognized as being on the dance team. She looked at the other girl who - Myka was somehow not surprised to see - turned out to be Helena. "Okay, we'll keep anyone else from coming outside. You two enjoy!"

"Here's your lunch." Cara handed Myka her lunchbox that someone had swiped from her table. She smiled and the schemers disappeared back into the school.

Myka glanced at Helena.

"I believe we've just been set up," Helena said.

"Yeah." Myka squinted towards the door but she couldn't see which students were guarding it. If Pete was involved, she was going to gut him. And then not go to Movie Night, Twizzlers be dammed. She huffed. "That's the last time I offer to help my sister out of trouble."

"Hmm, seems there was a theme." Myka frowned in confusion, and Helena explained. "They used my brother to lure me out here. Except they made the mistake of assuming I cared if my brother got himself into trouble."

"If you didn't care, then why did you come out here?"

"Because it was obvious they were lying, and I wanted to know why they needed me outside." Helena sat down at one of the stone tables. "You can sit down, you know. I don't think they'll let us back in until lunch is over."

"Do you always do that?" Myka asked.

"Do what?"

"Just go with things because you want to see how they turn out," Myka said. "Is everything an experiment?"

Helena looked put off guard. "No. I mean, I suppose… I suppose everything is an experiment, or most things are, but I never just 'go with things'. I usually do quite the opposite."

"Okay," Myka drew out. She walked over and sat at the table across from Helena. "So you're only going with the flow with the TiMER then? Did you know this set-up was TiMER related?"

"And how could I possibly know that?" Helena scoffed.

"I don't know. I'm just asking." Myka fidgeted with the zipper on her lunchbox.

"You're quite on your guard about this, aren't you?" Helena said.

Myka fixed her with a stern stare. "I just got manipulated into a private lunch."

Helena smiled. "Yes, you did. As did I."

Myka nodded. "And now we're stuck."

"It's not so bad," Helena glanced around. "It's certainly more peaceful out here than inside the cafeteria."

"It's not normally," Myka said. "Usually all the smokers eat out here and try to sneak cigarettes."

"I see," Helena said. "Then someone must have cleared them out for us."

"Yeah," Myka said. It was silent for a few moments. Myka stared down at the table.

"Oh, I have your jacket by the way," she said, looking back up. "It's in my locker."

"Did it work to hide your TiMER from your parents?"

"Yeah. I guess they didn't memorize the days on my countdown like Pete did."

"Well, at least you were saved from awkward questions last night."

Myka cringed. "Except from my sister. Oh, speaking of her, I'm supposed to ask what grade you're in."

"Year twelve. The senior class here. You?"

"Eleventh. Hell Year as everyone else calls it."

Helena scrunched her nose. "Why would they call it that?"

Myka shrugged. "Because of all the standardized tests, I guess. No one likes taking the ACT. Rumor is the teachers assign more homework to juniors, but I think that's only true because a lot of people slack off their senior year."

"And what's the ACT?"

"The college entrance exam," Myka explained, warming up to this topic. "I'm also taking the SAT this year just to have both." She frowned. "Or in case I totally blow one of them."

Helena continued to look confused.

"Do you not have the ACT or SAT in England?"

"We take A levels at the end of year twelve to submit to universities. Not quite sure how that will work with me in the States now. The administration here looked perplexed when they saw my transcript."

"Yeah, we don't get a lot of students transferring from England," Myka said. "Or any, actually."

Helena smiled. "Well that would explain all the gawking in the halls."

"Plus you triggered a TiMER," Myka pointed out and then winced. Now their TiMER event was back on the table, and she didn't want to discuss that. School had been a much safer topic.

A moment of silence fell again. Myka felt increasingly anxious.

"Aren't you going to eat your lunch?"

"Oh." Myka startled. "Yeah." She tugged at the zipper and glanced at Helena. "Do you not have anything?"

"Oh, I don't really eat lunch." Some kind of concern must have shown on Myka's face, because she was quick to add on. "I do eat. But after a year of boarding school, I've grown weary of anything that's served in a cafeteria."

"You could bring your own lunch." Myka pulled out a banana from her bag.

Helena shrugged. "I used to before boarding school. I suppose I could again, but my uncle insists breakfast is the most important meal of the day and has been cooking up a large spread each morning." She smiled. "I end up not very hungry by the time lunch comes around."

"You're living with your uncle?" Myka asked. "I thought you were with your parents."

"No, they're still in London." Helena said, looking at the table.

"And they sent you and your brother over here to Colorado Springs?" This struck Myka as odd. She was pretty sure her parents wouldn't send her away to attend school in a foreign country. She wasn't even sure if they'd let her leave the state to attend college.

"Yes, well, they couldn't keep me in London, now, could they?" Before Myka could ask anything else, Helena redirected the conversation. "So what about you? You said you have a sister attending high school?"

"Yeah," Myka said. "Tracy. She's a freshman." She pulled a face. "And a pain."

"Mmm," Helena smiled. "My brother is quite the pain, too. He wasn't supposed to come to the States with me, but he insisted. I think his goal in life is to make mine as miserable as possible."

"Ugh, Tracy, too. Especially now. She pestered me all night about you. Must be a younger sibling thing, to enjoy annoying you."

"Not all younger siblings," Helena said, softly. She looked back up at Myka. "But certainly most are like that."

They returned to discussing school after that. Since they knew they shared physics, they compared the rest of their class schedule and looked for any instance of same-class-different-hours. There weren't any, but Myka did learn that Helena was bored by Calculus, amused by the Adult Living class mandatory for all seniors, delightedly challenged by AP Government, and annoyed by the amount of homework MacPherson assigned them.

"Tell the truth, how possible is it to ignore the homework and still get an A in the class?'

"Not at all," Myka said. "Homework is worth 10% of your final grade, but if you don't turn any in, he'll bump you down a letter grade."

"That's bollocks. If he's going to make the homework mandatory like that, he should make it less tedious and much more interesting. It took me over an hour last night to complete today's assignment, and the only problems to provide me with more than a hand cramp were the last two."

"The application problems at the end are extra credit."

"Are you serious?" Helena asked. Myka nodded. "Well, that's even worse then. The only problems that should be required are the application ones. The rest are useless."

They heard the dulled ringing of the bell.

"I wouldn't mention that to MacPherson," Myka said as she cleaned up her lunch. "He'll retaliate by doubling the amount of homework."

Helena muttered something about incompetence under her breath. It both amused Myka and left her feeling nervous. She wasn't a big fan of MacPherson either, but she had never outright criticized a teacher. The presumption that a student might know more than a teacher was a bit of a novelty.

The door opened just as they reached it.

"Bell rang! Oh!" Pete said as he nearly hit them. "Hey, guys. How was lunch?"

Myka said nothing and stepped on by him. She heard Helena murmur a vague response behind her. Myka looked in the cafeteria to see if the rest of her things were still sitting where she'd left them when Pete tapped her arm.

"I've got your stuff." He held up her history book and binder.

"Great." She grabbed it and marched on towards her locker. She did a quick glance around to find Helena but stopped when Pete caught up to her.

"For the record, I had nothing to do with tricking you outside."

Myka side-eyed him but didn't say anything.

"I swear it!" Pete held up his hands. "I didn't know they were setting you two up. I would've warned you."

"Okay, I believe you." They passed the middle staircase, and Pete didn't turn off like he normally did.

"Don't you need to go upstairs?" Myka asked.

"I'm taking the long way around."

"Why?"

"Because I'm your best friend, and I'm dying to know how lunch went," Pete said. "And don't just say it was fine. I want details."

They reached her locker, and Myka entered her combination. "There's not much to tell. It was lunch. We talked."

"Watcha talk about?"

Myka shrugged and traded her history books for calculus and physics. "Just stuff. School mostly."

Pete stuck out his tongue when she shut her locker and faced him again. "Really? School? Were you really nervous or is she a ginormous nerd too?"

"Hey!" Myka glared. "And I wouldn't say she's a nerd. She doesn't really like homework. She does seem pretty smart, though."

"Well, we figured you wouldn't be matched up with an idiot."

A tightness formed in Myka's chest, and she didn't want to talk about this anymore. "I have to get to class," she said and started up the corner staircase.

"Hey, wait!" Pete called out. "I was thinking you could invite Helena to movie night tonight."

"What?" Myka halted on the stairs to the annoyance of some students following her. She pressed herself against the wall to let them go around. "You want me to invite her?"

"I mean, only if you want. You don't have to, but if you wanted to, it's cool by me."

Myka stared at him. "Um, okay. I'll think about it, I guess."

"Alright, that's cool," Pete said. "You better get going before you're late to smart people's class."

"It's AP Calc," Myka said, turning back to the stairs.

"That's what I said, smart people's class."

Myka rolled her eyes. "Bye."

"Later, Mykes!"

—

Myka was still debating Pete's suggestion when she sat down for physics class. On the one hand, she and Helena had been matched up and the group's weekly movie night might be a casual way to hang out and get to know each other better. On the other hand, she and Helena had been matched up and that was weird and awkward and terrifying, and Myka liked the TiMER a lot better as this mystic event that happened to other people but didn't happen to her.

It was a dilemma.

"Mr. MacPherson!" A boy sitting behind Myka called out just before the man could begin class.

"What is it?"

"I can't see the board." Myka looked back. It was Brennan Nickels who sat two seats back from her.

"You can't see the board," Mr. MacPherson repeated. "What, is someone's head in your way?"

"No, I think my eyesight has gotten worse lately. Maybe I need new contacts."

Brennan wore contacts? That was news to Myka. She looked at MacPherson to see his reaction.

"If you need your eyes checked, I suggest you make an appointment with a doctor. There's nothing I can do about it." He turned to the board.

"Well, what if I moved closer?" Brennan continued. "I could switch seats with someone. Hey, Myka, would you switch seats with me?"

Myka whipped her head back around. How did she get pulled into this? "Um… sure?"

"Mr. MacPherson, can I switch wit Myka? She said she's fine with it."

Their teacher fixed them with a stern stare. Then he gave a curt nod. "Yes, alright. Hurry up. We have a lot to cover."

Brennan and Myka each grabbed their things and moved to their new seats. As she passed him in the aisle, he said thanks in a loud voice and then winked at her. He sat down looking pleased with himself and high-fived someone in the front row. Myka didn't understand why until she sat down and realized this new seat put her directly across from Helena. The smirk lurking on Helena's face meant the other girl had already figured this out.

Myka felt the blush burn across her face. This was one of the bad ones that also crept down onto her neck. She propped her arms on the desk, clasped her hands over the back of her neck and tried wishing the blush away. Or wishing the entire class away. Honestly, she wasn't picky.

She sensed Helena lean across the aisle. "You seem quite popular," the girl whispered. Myka just shook her head. She didn't know why the school kept setting her up like this, but it definitely wasn't because she was popular. Everyone must have been bored today.

"Alright, if there are no more objections," MacPherson said, "we'll get started."

Myka's concentration was gone for most of class. She copied whatever the teacher wrote on the board, but she didn't expand on it with notes on her own and caught very little of what was said. Luckily, MacPherson wasn't aware of the TiMER event and seemed convinced that Brennan had been trying to sit closer to his friends. He continually picked the boy out to answer questions and never noticed Myka's distraction. Somehow she managed to refocus by the end of class and raise her hand for a question to save face. She was grateful when the bell finally rang.

The mass exodus left the doorway crowded so Myka hung back a bit. Helena lingered by the desks as well and coolly stepped over into Myka's aisle.

"Duped twice in one day," she said softly. "How are you holding up?"

"I'm fine," Myka replied. To her annoyance, she felt the blush return.

"Think this will continue on next week?"

"No. I don't know." She looked at Helena as they exited the classroom. "I don't remember people interfering this much in a TiMER event. They usually just make bets on the side."

Helena hummed. "Must be because we're the only ones right now."

"Maybe."

"I suppose we'll find out Monday." Helena turned to walk in the opposite direction that Myka needed to go, and Myka felt compelled to call out to her.

"Hey, wait!" Helena spun around looking a bit surprised.

"Yes?"

"So, Pete insists on doing this movie night every week," Myka said, walking a couple steps towards her. "He picks out a couple movies to watch and there's a ridiculous amount of junk food, but it's still pretty fun. I was wondering if you'd maybe want to come tonight."

Helena tilted her head and looked amused. "You said 'but' where most people would use the conjunction 'and'."

Myka frowned in confusion, but Helena only shook her head and took a step forward.

"Would you like me to come to this movie night?"

"Sure," Myka said with a shrug. Helena watched her for a moment.

"Myka." Her name sounded odd spoken aloud, and Myka bit her lip. "You shouldn't feel obligated to invite me out with your friends. I know the school's been pressuring us to speak to each other today -"

"No, it's fine," Myka interrupted. "You can come."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah," Myka nodded.

Helena thought a moment more. "Alright then," she said. "I'd be happy to spend an evening away from my brother."

"Okay, well we go over o Pete's house right after school. We can give you a ride if you need it."

"Don't you have your cryptography thing after school?"

Myka shook her head. "Not on Fridays."

Helena smiled. "Then, I'll see you after school."

—

She should've taken the out.

That was the repeating theme of Myka's thoughts as she stood behind the school, staring at the parking lot, waiting for her friends. And waiting for Helena.

She should've taken the out. Helena had given her several. She should've said, "No, you're right. I was feeling pressured. I don't actually want you to come." Or she could've said, "Oh dummy me! There is cryptography today. We can't do movie night!" It would have been more desperate, sure, but still effective. Anything to get her out of this horrible position of dreading movie night. She hadn't dreaded it since the very first one Pete had dragged her to.

She was honestly debating the pros and cons of puking on the sidewalk from nerves (con: she hated puking; pro: she could say she was too sick to hang out tonight) when Pete pulled his truck up and parked in front of her. He stood up and hung out his window, hands tapping on the roof.

"Where is everyone?"

"Claudia's still negotiating her grounding with Artie," Myka said. "I think Steve's with her for back-up."

Pete laughed. "Don't know why Artie even tries. Claudia always wears him down." Myka just shrugged.

"So did you ask Helena to come?"

No. No, she didn't so they should go now and definitely not wait around here any longer. Myka held her arms tight against her ribs and stared at Pete.

Her silence spoke for her. Pete's jaw dropped, and he clambered out of his truck.

"Holy crap, you did? And she said yes? Mykes, that's amazing!"

"No, it isn't," Myka said, backing up so he wouldn't hug her.

"What are you talking about? This is huge!"

"Pete!" Myka felt the terror rise. She shook her head. "I can't do this. She can't come."

"What are you going to do, un-invite her?"

"No." She couldn't get away with that. "Whatever, I'll just go home. I can call my mom." She fumbled to get her phone out of her pocket, but Pete placed his hands on her arms.

"Hey, what's wrong?"

"What's wrong is this TiMER and you and the entire rest of the freaking school is shoving me towards Helena, and I don't want it! I just want to be left alone."

Pete's face remained passive. "Is this about Sam?"

"No! God, why would - this has nothing to do with Sam!"

"Well, I don't know!" Pete said. "You've been acting weird since the TiMER went off, and you're not telling me anything. I just thought," he trailed off and shrugged.

"Well, it doesn't." Myka recrossed her arms and stared out into the parking lot. She wasn't acting weird because of unresolved feelings for her ex-boyfriend or whatever it was that Pete had thought. Sam wasn't the issue.

Except he kind of was. Now that he'd been brought up, Myka could feel it. Beneath the burst of anger, the fear was pulling itself into a definitive shape.

"What if I did the tests wrong?" she asked, voice low.

"What tests?"

"The psychology tests you take before you get your TiMER. What if I messed them up?"

"No way." Pete shook his head. "Not possible."

"But I tried for a certain result, and they explicitly tell you not to do that."

Pete shook his head again. "Myka, it is literally impossible to screw up those tests. You can go in, answer the exact opposite of what you actually think, and still get matched up accurately."

Myka wasn't convinced. She stared at the truck, her arms still clenched tight.

"Hey." Pete moved so she had to look at him. "Who are you going to believe: your self-doubt or the guy whose mom works for TiMER headquarters?"

Myka huffed. "It's not like your mom gives you any company insight into how the TiMERs work."

"Okay, so I only know what's advertised," Pete said. "But still!" He tugged to get her to drop her arms so he could pull her into a hug. Myka grumbled but relented.

"You have nothing to worry about," he said, holding her tight. "It'll all work out." Myka nodded into his shoulder. She took a deep breath and began to feel a little calmer.

Pete pulled back. "And remember, there is no absolutely no pressure on you. At the very least, you're getting a new best friend who's probably going to oust me as your ultimate best friend. And then, of course, I'll cry."

Myka shook her head in amusement as Pete kept going.

"And you won't care at all because you'll be too busy hanging out and laughing it up with your new ultimate best friend, and then one day, I'll see you in the hall and be like 'hey Myka! What's up?' and you'll look at me and be like 'who the heck are you?' and that's when I'll know," he finished up solemnly, "that I've been thoroughly replaced."

Myka was grinning by the end. She lightly punched his shoulder. "You're an idiot."

"Are you saying that's not going to happen?"

"No," Myka said and moved to throw her backpack in the truck. She looked back over her shoulder at him. "I'm saying you're not my ultimate best friend to begin with."

"Wow." Pete clasped his hands over heart and pouted. "Wow, that cuts deep."

Myka laughed.

"Oh my god, you guys!" They both looked to see Claudia sprinting down the sidewalk with Steve and Helena walking not far behind. "You totally missed it! It was awesome!" She pounded to a stop beside them and took a breath.

"Okay, so first, Artie was totally pissed at me for cutting cryptography yesterday." She glared at Pete like it was his fault. "He was even threatening to not let me come tonight. I was starting to freak out because I can't miss our movie night! So then Helena suddenly shows up and she…." Claudia waved her hands in the air. "Well, I don't even know! I don't think Artie knows either, but she totally talked me out of trouble and convinced Artie to let me come and it was totally awesome!" Her face wore a large grin and a glow like she had just witnessed a superhero. Or befriended one. "Tell them, Steve."

"It was very impressive," Steve confirmed. "But I think we're going to be paying for it later."

"Who cares?" Claudia said. "I get to go to movie night!"

"Claudia!" Artie shouted as he exited the school and walked towards his car. Claudia sighed.

"Oh yeah, that was part of the deal." She stuck out her tongue. "He has to drive me over to your place. He said he doesn't trust your truck."

"Hey! My truck is perfectly safe." Pete slapped the rusting side of the truck bed.

"Chill! I'm sure he just wants to lecture me some more. See ya in a bit!" Claudia took off running to where Artie was standing and glaring at them. "Steve, wanna ride?"

Steve glanced at the truck, glanced at the three of them still standing by him, and then headed out after Claudia. "Sorry, I'll take second-hand lecture over the back of a pickup truck."

"Man! Everyone's harshing on my truck today," Pete said.

Helena raised her eyebrows at the vehicle. "Can't imagine why."

"No really, this baby is safer than it looks." He looked at Myka who turned to Helena.

"I can vouch for the truck," she said. "I can't vouch for his driving."

"Ugh! You're such a side-seat driver!" Pete walked around to the driver's side. "Are we ready to go?"

Helena looked at Myka. "Are we still on?"

Myka nodded and smiled. "Yeah. Let's go."


	3. Movie Night

**Author's Note:** So this was supposed to be part of Chapter 2 originally, but Ch 2 turned out longer than I'd anticipated so I bumped this back to Ch 3. But now chapter 3 is poised to be even LONGER (like 2 chapters of 4k+ each longer) and that's without this scene. I have at least 3k to write before I'm at my next stopping point, I'm coaching two track meets this week, and I'm driving down to my parents this weekend. So in summary: here's a short update covering Movie Night to tide you over. Enjoy. :)

—

They're all gathered downstairs at Pete's house in his basement den. His mother was somewhere upstairs, already off work, but she always left them to themselves on these nights unless they got too loud (something that happened more often than not considering how seriously Pete and Claudia took their pop culture). Myka's sitting on the large sectional like the other guests, trying to listen to Pete explain the "rules" of Movie Night to their guest. She intended to curtail him if he started making up rules that were too ludicrous, but it took a tremendous effort to catch anything he said. Helena was sitting beside her and the panic or fear, or whatever her anxiety was, was rising up again. Somehow she had managed sharing the truck bench with the girl during the drive over just fine. But actually seated in front of the television screen with Pete explaining the no-talking-unless-it's-about-the-movie rule brought the night into an overwhelming reality. Suddenly movie night felt far more like a date than a casual friends-night-in, and that just was not okay.

Myka tried to keep her breathing normal and not take a deep breath like she really wanted to do (and definitely not stop breathing like she was very close to doing). She wished Pete would ease off with his jokes. It felt like he was making more of them tonight, like he was trying too hard because an outsider was here, and it was just putting Myka more on edge.

"Let's just start the movie," she finally said.

Pete gave her a thumbs up. Maybe he did sense that she was about to lose it.

"On it," he said. He opened a case and crouched down by the DVD player. Strangely, it didn't look like any of the B movies he had described to Myka earlier.

"What are we watching?" she asked.

"Back to the Future. Decided to take it easy on the newbie."

Myka frowned at him. "You made me watch Porkies my first time over here."

"You want to watch Porkies instead?"

Myka's eyes got wide. "No!"

"Ever seen this movie, Helena?" Pete asked. Then he sat down on the other side of Myka, and Myka realized that he officially had no clue about the inner turmoil she was in.

"Can't say I have," Helena said.

He'd trapped her next to Helena. Myka had about seven inches of space between her and the other girl and no more because Pete had only left maybe an inch of space when he'd sat down. Myka had been taking comfort in the free seat beside her. She'd been plotting to scoot down at some point during the movie under the pretense of wanting to sit next to the arm rest. It was a good plan!

"Well, then tonight's your lucky night," Pete said, "cause we're watching the whole trilogy!" He flipped off the lights and hit play on the remote.

Myka was going to die.

—

When the first movie ended, the pizza hadn't arrived yet. Myka quickly volunteered to make more popcorn and carried the large bowl up to the kitchen. She started up a new bag in the microwave. A minute later, Helena joined her.

"Avoiding me?"

"No." Myka glanced at her. "I'm avoiding all the complaints about the pizza being late."

Helena stepped closer to the counter where she was leaning. "I did say I didn't have to come. You don't have to feel any obligation towards me."

"Yes, I do. We're matched." _Didn't I just say I wasn't avoiding you?_ The frustration cut off any further response, and she returned to staring at the microwave.

"Very well." Helena moved so she was leaning beside the microwave, but Myka kept her eyes on the yellow light and the popping bag. "Then, you invited me here tonight to, what? Get to know me better? Keep me in your sight?"

God, she was pushy. "Actually, I thought Pete was sticking with the original movies he'd picked out and wanted to share the torture." Myka met her eyes this time.

Helena raised her eyebrows. "And just what torturous movies would those be?"

Myka shrugged. "Something about a gladiator, a private investigator, and a cowboy."

"All in the same movie?"

"No, different movies, but they all used the same actor. Pete likes themes for movie night."

"I see," Helena said. She was quiet long enough for Myka to hope this conversation was done. No such luck. "I must say, I prefer tonight's time travel theme."

Myka tried to keep her response simple and vague. "Yeah, the Back to the Future movies are pretty good." Just a few seconds left before the popcorn finished. She crossed to pull the bag out, but Helena's position meant her arm blocked the door release.

"It had a few too many climaxes at the end, I thought, but it did pose some interesting questions about the consequences of time travel."

Helena wasn't moving, and Myka couldn't tell if she was being difficult on purpose or if she hadn't realized she was in Myka's way.

"For example," the girl looked at Myka and continued with the movie analysis Myka hadn't meant to start. "Why was his brother erased first? Why weren't they all erased at the same time?"

This seemed to be a real topic. She wasn't stalling or filling the silence, but was genuinely curious about the logic in the movie.

"Um, I'm not sure," Myka said. "The order used to bug me too. But then I decided they must be implying that the changes Marty made were rippling forward through time, so it affected the oldest child first."

Helena stared at her. "I hadn't thought of that. That makes quite a bit of sense."

"Can I..?" Myka pointed at the microwave, and Helena's eyes widened with understanding.

"Oh, right! Of course." She scooted to the side so Myka could remove the popcorn bag. Myka brought it back to the other counter and dumped it into the bowl.

"So you like time travel, huh?" Glancing over her shoulder, she saw Helena startle like her mind had already turned in to its own musings and forgotten the conversation.

"Yes." Helena made a sheepish face. "Bit of an obsession, really. I find the whole concept of traveling to times not our own fascinating."

"And yet, you've never seen Back to the Future?" She meant it as a tease, not a criticism. Myka didn't really know how common American movies from the 1980s were over in England.

"Well, I don't usually seek out films to satisfy my interests. I prefer reading books."

Myka bit her lip. _Don't think it. Don't think it. Don't think it. Seriously, TiMER, that's a cheap shot. Ignore it. Ignoring it. Letting it go._ But when had Myka ever ignored the topic of books?

"What kind of time travel books do you read?" she asked.

Helena's face lit up. "Anything I can get my hands on, really. The Man Who Folded Himself, Timescape, The End of Eternity. Also books that simply discuss the future such as Douglas Adams' or Ray Bradbury's."

"The Time Machine by H.G. Wells?"

Helena gave her a funny look that Myka couldn't interpret. Then she laughed.

"Yes, certainly The Time Machine. I quite liked his approach to it, actually, traveling millions of years into the future and offering a possible scenario. Not quite as short-sighted as predicting colonies on Mars by 2001."

Myka smiled at the reference. "You may have a problem with this next movie, then."

"What, with the flying car? Did they not set it far enough in the future?"

Myka shook her head, now grinning. "Not even close."

"Now see," Helena pushed herself off to cross over to Myka. Her fingers played with the rim of the popcorn bowl. "This is why I'd love to travel to the future myself rather than live it vicariously through the delusions of others. I want to see what humans actually achieve in thirty or fifty or a hundred years time."

"I think you'll see most of that during your normal life."

"Yes, but not soon enough," Helena said. "And not a century." She smiled, and her eyes shined in such a way that Myka wondered if this was the first real smile the girl had given. "Can you imagine what life would be like a century from now? What great advancements the human race will have made?"

"No. I'm usually too caught up in imaging the past."

Helena's brow furrowed. "Why's that?"

"Because I love history," she admitted. "Ancient Rome and Egypt, all the European monarchies over the centuries, colonizing the Americas, the Industrial Revolution - did you know the world's first computer programmer was a woman?"

"No, I didn't," Helena said with a smile.

Myka nodded. "Ada Lovelace. She's one of Claudia's biggest heroes."

"So that's what you would do if you had a time machine, go back and watch history being made?"

Myka nodded and dipped her head. "And maybe meet some of my own heroes."

"There it is!" Helena said in a teasing tone that made Myka squint in playful annoyance. "Would you try to get some autographs?"

"No!" Myka laughed. "I don't know, I'd just like to meet them. Maybe tell them how much I admire them. So many of them died before they could know their full impact on society. Several of them didn't think their lives were worth anything. I just want to tell them that their work is still important even all these years later."

Helena's smile had faded, and she was looking at Myka with a different expression. It didn't seem to be bad, but that was all Myka could read from it.

"What?"

"You're a very thoughtful person, aren't you?" Helena said. Myka was taken aback. The doorbell rang then and the thundering steps and shouting on the stairs saved her from responding.

"Pizza!" shouted Claudia as she burst through the basement door just ahead of Pete and Steve. She and Steve sprinted for the front of the house.

"You know I have the money, right?" Pete yelled as he ran after them.

"3…2…1," Myka counted down. Sure enough, there was Pete's mom scolding them.

"Stop running in the house! No, not all of that is for you. I ordered a small for myself. Pete! Sort them out on the table, not here!"

Myka shook her head and exchanged a grin with Helena.

—


	4. Myka's Story

**A/N:** UGH. This chapter was ridiculously hard to write. And not just because RL swamped me this past week. :/ On the upside, I proofread the crap out of this because I was nervous about it and my boyfriend was too brain dead from work to look it over and reassure me. But I'm not a grammar expert so I'm sure there's still errors. Hope you'll still enjoy. :)

—

Myka was preoccupied with her AP Calculus homework when she arrived to school on Monday morning. There had been one problem she couldn't work through - one problem! - and it was driving her nuts. Hoping to catch the teacher before first period, she said goodbye to Pete early and headed up to her calculus room. Students in the hall watched her along the way.

Actually, they weren't really watching her. It was more of a glance to spot her, an immediate search around her, then - coming up empty - a search of the entire length of the hallway, before returning for a stare. It didn't take a PhD candidate to know they were looking for Helena.

"And here we go again," Myka muttered to herself. Coming off the stairs on the third floor, she, coincidentally, spotted the girl for herself and rushed over to catch her.

"You had to move here in October, didn't you?"

Helena looked startled at her sudden appearance. "Pardon me?"

"Well, if you had moved here at the beginning of the year, we wouldn't be stared at so much," Myka said.

Helena frowned and glanced around the hall as they walked. "Everyone is still staring today, aren't they?"

"Yep. I guess we're still news." Myka would be more upset by that but they were approaching the classroom she needed. "Hey, I have to go ask a question about my calculus homework."

"What question?" Helena asked. "Perhaps I could help."

Myka stopped and turned back around.

Helena gave her a beseeching look. "Despite my grades not qualifying me for advanced placement, I am quite skilled at calculus."

Myka considered. She preferred asking the teacher when she had a question.

"Just tell me what concept you're learning," Helena said and stepped forward.

Myka looked down the hall and spotted the section of wall by the corner that wasn't covered in lockers.

"Okay," she gave in. Assuming Helena would follow, she walked over to the cleared spot and sat down. She flipped through her calculus book while Helena slid in beside her.

"Here it is. Number 27." Myka held out the book and homework to her. "We're working with inverse functions. The back of the book says it's supposed to be a one-to-one function, but I can't get my work to match that."

Helena frowned down at the problem and then glanced at Myka's work. After a minute, she asked if Myka had scratch paper and a pencil.

"Yeah," Myka said, pulling out a sheet from her folder. Helena scribbled out some calculations while Myka peered over her arm, trying to follow along. It all seemed to mirror her own attempts so far.

"Oh here!" Helena pointed to a line. "You wrote x to the power of three instead of squared."

"Nuh uh." Myka grabbed her homework back and examined her work again. There it was, plain as day. "No, I did that five times yesterday. How did I screw that up every time?"

Helena looked amused. "Perhaps you were too close to the problem."

"Apparently." Myka erased the problem and reworked it correctly. "Thank you for finding my error."

"Of course, though it was a small misprint, not really an error. If you're ever stumped on a more difficult problem, let me know. I'd love a challenge."

"Oh, no." Myka said as the bell rang. She stuck the papers back in her folder. "I always get the really difficult problems right the first time." She flashed a grin which won a laugh from the other girl. Standing up, she tossed out a 'see you later' to Helena and bounced off to first hour.

—

A wave of surrealness washed over Myka when she entered the cafeteria, and it made her pause. It was like this dichotomy of the incredibly familiar and the outright strange.

_It's because I haven't had a normal lunch in a few days._ The realization had her scanning the cafeteria for the reason. She spotted Helena entering through the back. The girl noticed her too and smiled when she caught her gaze. A smile crept out of Myka.

"You gonna sit?"

"Huh?" Myka looked down at Pete munching away on his chicken patty. "Yeah. Right." She sat and looked over her shoulder to Helena. The girl was reading something on her phone now and not moving. Myka wondered if the lunch supervisor would catch her and confiscate the phone, but then the girl was suddenly walking out the door.

Myka frowned in confusion. Helena was gone.

"What's wrong?" Pete asked.

"Nothing." Myka jerked back around to the table and opened up her lunchbox. "I'm fine."

Helena was still missing during physics. The empty seat beside Myka fixed itself in her head like a rock in the swirling creek of her thoughts. Every time she managed to focus on the lecture, her thoughts would butt up against the knowledge of the empty desk, and she'd be off swimming in questions of where Helena had gone and why she was missing class.

Unfortunately, Mr. MacPherson noticed her inattention today.

"Miss Bering!"

Myka jumped.

"What is the acceleration of the car?"

Myka glanced at the board where three different block diagrams were drawn out. She had no idea which one represented a car.

"Um…."

Off to her right, a classmate raised her hand.

"Not now, Miss Geigs. I'm asking Bering."

"But Myka always answers the questions," Lisa Geigs said. Mr. MacPherson frowned and spun to face her. Myka would've been panicking if he'd been glaring at her like that (of course, she was already panicking so it probably wouldn't have made a difference). Lisa, however, simply stared up at him and continued on.

"Can I answer? I actually know this one."

Mr. MacPherson huffed, likely annoyed that his berating had been interrupted. "Very well. Give me the acceleration."

"Twelve meters per second squared."

He glared for a second longer before turning to the board. "Yes, the acceleration is twelve meters per second squared." He wrote it out on the board, and Myka quietly let out the breath she'd been holding. She didn't fully relax even as Mr. MacPherson moved on with class. That had been too close. For the rest of the period, she made sure to at least know what problem they were working through so she wouldn't be caught off guard again.

Finally, class was over. Myka turned after Lisa in the hallway.

"Hey, I just wanted to say thanks for earlier," Myka said. "You know, when you bailed me out."

Lisa shook her head. "Oh, no worries. I totally get why you were out of it. Is your One sick today?"

"Um… I don't…." Her brain stumbled over the casual use of the phrase 'your One'. "I don't know. I think she left during lunch earlier."

"That sucks." Lisa looked sympathetic. "Well, hopefully she'll be back tomorrow. Maybe you can call her tonight."

Why would she call her? She didn't even have Helena's number. "Um, yeah. Maybe." Myka forced a smile to end this conversation. "Well, anyway, thanks again." She made a move back towards the direction she actually needed to travel in for class.

"Yeah, sure!" Lisa smiled and accepted the exit. Myka walked off feeling a bit irritated.

—

"Where was Helena today?"

Tracy's voiced sliced through Myka's last nerve the second she got home from cryptography.

"She left."

"Geez, you scare her off already?"

Myka gritted her teeth and glared up at the ceiling. Seriously, she was five seconds away from skewering her sister with the fencing foil she still had in her room.

"Who's Helena?" Her mother asked, entering the living room. Myka shut her eyes.

"No one."

"Helena's her new -"

"Tracy!"

"- not-friend and definitely not-girlfriend," Tracy finished in a rush and then smiled innocently. Myka thought she should skip the foil and just wrestle her sister to the floor now, grounding be dammed.

"She's not my friend."

"Yes, I think that's what Tracy just said," her mother said, but it was in a tone that suggested she didn't believe it. Then, she sighed. "I don't understand why you don't tell us when you make a new friend. You kept that adorable Pete from us for months."

"No, I didn't. And why'd you call him adorable? He's so not adorable." Myka crossed her arms.

Her mother smiled. "So, who's this Helena?"

Myka shook her head at the subject change (or subject return). "No one. She's not important." She turned to walk away.

"Myka."

"I have to study." On her way to her bedroom, she passed her father coming up the stairs from the bookstore.

"Where are you going? Your mother made dinner."

"I'm not hungry. Will you guys leave me alone!" She pushed by to get to her room.

"Well, that's fine. If you're going to act like that, you can skip dinner!" her father called after her.

Myka threw the door closed behind her, tossed her backpack to the side, and flopped down on her bed. She stewed in her frustration and general bitterness with everything for many long minutes and blocked out the continuing conversations of the rest of her family. Eventually, her bitter-fest was interrupted by the buzzing of her phone. She shifted slightly to glare at the backpack pocket that housed it. It buzzed again.

She groaned and, with great effort, rose to pull it out. She had texts from Pete asking how her day had gone despite the fact that she'd just seen him not even fifteen minutes ago when he dropped her off. Oh, yeah, and he made a comment about her grumpy mood.

_No._ Is all she texted back. She didn't want to talk right now. She dropped the phone on her bed and laid back down.

The phone buzzed again.

_Bad time?_

Myka huffed. _Yes._

Another buzz. _Bad time like im busy or bad time like im being kidnapped come rescue me?_

"Oh my god, Pete!" Myka sat up and dialed his number.

"Hello?"

"Leave me alone! I don't want to talk to you!" Then she hung up and tossed the phone on her backpack. A minute later, she felt guilty and imagined Pete's hurt and confusion on the other end.

"Dammit." She rolled over and buried her face in her arms and pillow. She hadn't been this crabby when she'd woken up this morning so she didn't know why she was so crabby now. She was probably still embarrassed over physics class. How could she not know which problem they were working on?

But she shouldn't have taken that out on Pete. Myka groaned into her pillow. A few more minutes of sulking went by before she finally drug herself up and walked over to her phone. Pete sounded cautious when he answered this time.

"Yes?"

"I'm sorry," Myka mumbled.

"It's cool. I should've known better."

"No, you didn't do anything." She sighed and sunk back down on the bed.

"So, who did?"

Helena. Tracy. Her parents. Everyone. Myka was silent for a minute, mulling her options.

"Lisa called Helena my One today."

"Which Lisa?"

"In my physics class. Lisa Geigs."

"Oh, right, okay." A pause. "So she called Helena your One?" he prompted.

"Yeah, why'd she do that? Who gave her the right?"

"She probably didn't mean anything by it. You know it's just a name people use when your TiMER goes off for someone."

"Well, I don't like it!"

"Yeah, I know. You've made that clear."

Myka chewed on her lip. "You think I'm being ridiculous, don't you?"

"No," Pete dragged out. "I said nothing of the sort."

"Yes, you do. You think I'm over-reacting."

"Myka, I have zero experience with this sort of thing. I have no idea what you're going through, or if there's a right way to react. Actually, I don't think there is a right or a wrong way to react. I think you just sort of… react."

"Very helpful."

"Hey, I'm saying you can't be wrong! Girls like not being wrong!"

Myka snorted and rolled her eyes.

"Was that a laugh? Did I get you to laugh?"

"No." Myka stifled the smile too even though he couldn't see it.

"No, no, no, that was a laugh. You cannot deny Pete Lattimer his laugh."

"You're such a dork." Myka grinned (but didn't laugh. She wouldn't give him that much).

"Yeah, yeah." A break. Then, "So what made you go all kablooey? Was it because Helena left school early?"

"No." Myka frowned. "How did you know she left early?"

"I was at lunch too. You know, I do pay attention to other things besides my food."

"Hmm," Myka exhaled. She was still frowning. "I got matched with someone who skips school."

"You don't know that she skipped school. She just moved here from another country. Maybe there was something wrong with her visa or something."

"She was reading a text on her phone like she was meeting someone then left."

"Maybe it was an email."

"Pete, I've seen you do the exact same thing. You got a text from your ride, and then you left."

"When did I skip school?"

"Last year!"

"Oh, yeah!" Pete sounded like he was grinning. "But that was one time, and it was completely for the sake of education."

Myka scoffed. "Yeah, cutting school to hit up the half-priced weekday matinee with Ryan Stevens is very educational."

"We saw a documentary! And I learned a lot about the state of the domestic automobile industry."

"Why would you skip school to watch a documentary?"

"Because it was half-price! Plus there was free popcorn! And it's not like I skipped a test or anything. Not going would've been a waste of a promotion."

Myka rolled her eyes. "I'm surrounded by people who skip school. At least Steve doesn't skip!"

"Ah, give him time. We'll break the freshman in."

"You're such a good example to the underclassmen."

"I'll have you know Class Clown is a highly enviable high school achievement these days."

"Potential Class Clown."

"Nuh-uh! That's mine! I swear to god if Ralph Brunski beats me for it, heads will roll."

"Pete."

"I'll demand a recount!"

"I was teasing! Everybody likes you. You're fine."

"Okay." He sounded a bit mollified. "But if you hear any rumblings -"

"- I'll be first in line to launch your electoral campaign."

"That's all I ask."

She heard Pete's mom in the background call him for dinner.

"I should let you go eat."

"No, you don't have to." But his voice sounded like he was already considering whatever his mom had fixed. "Hey, shouldn't you be eating soon too?"

"Mmm." Myka shrugged. "I kind of got grounded from dinner."

"What? How'd you do that?"

"I yelled at my dad."

Pete let out a heavy sigh, the kind Myka had grown to recognize as a sign he thought she was being overdramatic in regards to her family.

"You are not grounded from dinner."

"Yes, I am."

"No. Get your butt out there and eat."

Myka huffed and frowned. Two things were wrong with that. One, Pete had just bossed her around which was entirely unacceptable, and two, she had no desire to join her family right then, or any other time this evening. Possibly not in the morning, either. Really, she could grab food after they'd all split back up for the night. She didn't need to go join them at the table.

"Myka."

Dammit, he'd used his pleading tone.

"Fine, I'll go eat with them."

"Good! I'll see you tomorrow."

"Yeah, see you." She hung up and walked out to the dining room.

"Oh, ho," her father said as she approached. "Look who decided to leave her cave."

_Pete Lattimer, I really hate you._

—

The AP U.S. History class was in the library again. Myka thought the extra library day was excessive, but most of the class had pleaded and cajoled until their teacher had given in and sent them across the hall. There wasn't much point in it. If someone still needed to do research three days before the essay was due, he had a lot more to worry about than what general defended in the Siege of Fort Meigs.

Okay so, Myka was still short-tempered.

The lost class period wasn't helping. How could she be expected to score well on the AP test if they were never taught anything? In addition, her own essay was already completed so she could do nothing but edit or look for further points to illustrate. Maybe if she read enough, she'd uncover an entirely new side to her topic and get to restructure her whole paper. It'd be something to keep her occupied.

"Well, this is a lovely coincidence."

Helena had taken the seat next to her at the table.

"How did you come to be in the library this hour?" she asked.

"My history class," Myka said. "What are you doing here?" Helena hadn't been in the library last week when they'd had a research day.

Helena triumphantly held up a slip of paper. "I've finally obtained the needed permission to leave the confines of the cafeteria. Why do they make it so difficult for one to spend their study hall in the library? I feel that type of thing should be encouraged."

Myka ignored the remark. "You're supposed to turn that in to the librarian when you come in."

"But I wanted to keep it as a trophy of my success. Perhaps frame it under the heading 'Finally Free'."

Myka just stared at her.

"Alright," Helena sighed. Myka watched her walk up to the front desk, hand over the slip of paper, and return to the table.

"You're not much for jokes today, are you?" She said it like she knew what Myka's sense of humor was on other days which was ridiculously presumptuous for a relationship that wasn't even a week old yet.

"I'm concentrating on my research." Myka looked down at her book to prove her point. Helena continued to sit there. "If it's study hall, shouldn't you be studying?"

"Well, yes. I should be looking for a differential equations book as it was my calculus teacher who provided the independent studies excuse, but you've distracted me."

"Hmm," Myka said, casually examining her book, "you sure have a short attention span. No wonder you couldn't finish school yesterday."

When she finally glanced up, she saw that Helena was smiling.

"Did you miss me yesterday?"

This girl was infuriating.

Helena continued before Myka could answer. "I'm sorry I left early, but there was something important I had to do."

"Problems with your visa?"

Helena laughed. "No, far more exciting than that."

Oh no, she _was_ a delinquent.

The girl leaned in. "One of Tesla's original induction motors was on loan at the university here in town."

Wait. "Tesla?"

"Do you know him?" Helena's face lit up.

"He was Edison's biggest rival."

"That's one way of putting it," Helena said. "Well, the motor is only there for a couple of days, and my uncle knew how much I admire Tesla so he arranged a private viewing."

"How was he able to do that?"

"Oh, fairly easily. He's a professor of mechanical engineering there."

"Oh." Myka considered this. "So you essentially skipped school to go to another school to view a museum piece?"

Helena smirked. "I like to keep my truancies educational."

A small, disbelieving laugh escaped Myka. She shook her head and smiled down at her history book.

"Would you like to see pictures?" Helena was still radiating enthusiasm for her field trip. The joy was capturing, and Myka didn't think to warn the girl before she pulled out her phone.

"Phones are to be kept in lockers during school hours," the librarian said. Myka jumped.

"Oh, I'm terribly sorry," Helena said. Her demeanor quickly sobered into something too sincere. "I'm new. Still learning all the rules."

"That's fine. But go put your phone up in your locker."

"Of course." Helena left the library. Myka accidentally caught the librarian's eye and flushed. She dropped her gaze to her book, stomach squirming, even though she hadn't done anything wrong. In a couple of minutes, Helena returned.

"So Myka," Helena said in a voice slightly too loud for a library. "I'm betting you spend quite a lot of time in here and know where every section is."

"Um, I guess. Maybe." Okay, definitely, but she didn't know where this was going and didn't want to admit anything.

"Then, you could show me where to locate a differential equations book?"

"Oh," Myka said, eyes already darting to the correct wall of the library. "Yeah, sure. It'd be over here." She stood up and led the other girl to the back wall. There was only the one differential equations books, and it wasn't difficult to find.

"Here, you go."

"Well, that was simple. Thank you." Helena had lowered her voice again. She glanced over her shoulder. "What section is that in the corner?"

"Um," Myka looked over. "Non-fiction. Mostly biographies right there."

"Oh, I love biographies." Helena smiled. "You must show me."

"Okay." Myka followed the girl, confused and curious about what she was up to. Upon reaching the corner, Helena turned back towards the front of the library. Myka glanced over and realized some center shelves blocked their view of the front desk. When she looked back, Helena was taking a seat on the floor. Suspicious, but still too curious, Myka sat down too.

"What are y-" but her question was answered when Helena slipped her phone out of her pocket. "You didn't put your phone up!" she whispered.

"Of course not," Helena whispered back. "I wanted to show you the pictures of Tesla's motor."

Myka sighed, unsure what to do with this blatant disregard for the rules.

"Here, look," Helena said. She held out her phone so Myka could see. "That's the stator where the alternating current is applied. That forms the magnetic field that rotates in time with the oscillations. This model was a two-phase motor so there were two oscillations influencing it."

As she explained each step and component, Myka found herself watching Helena more than the pictures. Once, she asked a question that prompted Helena to pull a small spiral notebook and pen from her jacket pocket and sketch out a circuit diagram. Myka was amazed by how much the girl knew and understood. This material was beyond anything they'd studied in physics class so far.

"I can definitely see how I would be friends with you."

Helena paused and looked over. "Would be friends," she said. "Meaning we're not friends currently?"

"I…" That had not been a thought she should've said out loud. Myka scrambled for a response that wasn't 'my brain slipped up'. "I didn't mean… This is all just really new, and it's really only because of the TiMER still."

"Ah," Helena cut her off. She nodded and looked away. "The TiMER. Of course." Myka thought Helena might have glared at the device on her wrist, but she had dropped her eyes to stare at the floor and couldn't be sure her peripheral vision was correct. "Of course, you'd still be worried about that."

Confusion and annoyance flooded Myka. She wanted to defend herself, but she couldn't pull the words together. Instead, she kept her eyes on the ground and stayed silent.

"You know, sometimes I wonder how much easier we'd get on if the TiMER didn't exist."

That pulled Myka's head back up to look at Helena. The girl gave her a small smile.

"I bet we'd be close friends by now." Then, Helena stood and walked back to the table where they'd left their belongings. The corner felt very empty.

_But how could we have been friends without the TiMER? Would we have still talked to each other?_ The bell rang as she was thinking on this, and, slowly, she stood to go to lunch. She wound up trailing a bit behind Helena, acutely aware of the distance between them as they both walked to the cafeteria. It left her feeling miserable and guilty.

Inside, Myka turned off towards her table and tried not to think about where in the cafeteria Helena would be sitting today. She sat down next to Pete.

"Hey, it looks like Helena's back," Pete said after several minutes of silence where Myka toyed with the zipper on her lunchbox but never opened it.

"Yeah, I know. I saw her in the library."

She didn't say anything else, and in another minute, Pete asked, "Are you okay?"

Steve arrived with his lunch tray just then. Myka barely noticed.

"What's wrong?" Steve asked.

"I'm fine," Myka said to them both. She still didn't open her lunchbox. She didn't open up her history book, either. There was some sort of conversation at the table, especially when Claudia finally sat down with her tray, but they didn't try to pull Myka into it. She was grateful for that. She wasn't up for any conversation.

She looked to her right and scanned the cafeteria. Helena was just about where Myka had thought the girl would be, at one of the back tables in the add-on where few students sat. She was alone at the table and working steadily on something. Myka could see her cross out a part in the notebook and rewrite it.

Myka looked back in front of her. She stared through her book on the table and took a deep breath. Then, before she could talk herself out of it, she stood and began walking towards Helena. She only got a table away and stopped. Lunch was half over already. She went back and picked up her things. Pretending her friends and anyone who noticed her passing by weren't staring at her, she walked back to Helena's table and sat near the girl, keeping a chair between them.

Helena closed her notebook and looked up at her.

"I'm scared," Myka said. "Us, the TiMER, I don't know what any of it means."

"I told you, it doesn't have to mean anything."

"But it does. We were matched. That's supposed to mean everything." And Jesus, that was terrifying. Myka couldn't begin to contemplate being friends with this girl when so much more was hanging over their heads.

And the worst part was, she wanted that 'more', or she would have if she hadn't screwed everything up so badly. She should've been excited and nervous, not filled with dread and the desire to hide away with her Kaplan prep books to try and forget it all.

"I wish I had an undo button."

"To undo our meeting?" Helena asked.

"No." Myka shook her head. "Not that - well, kind of." She fidgeted with the edges of her binder. "I messed up on the TiMER."

Helena looked puzzled. "How do you mean?"

"I don't mean we were matched up wrong," Myka said. "I don't know we were matched up _right_, but we are getting along. And I do like you, you know, when you're not skipping school."

Helena smirked. "I thought you liked that I skipped to see a scientific artifact."

Myka wanted to glare, but the annoyance wasn't really there. She sighed instead.

"You still skipped school."

"My uncle excused the absence." Myka conceded the point. When she didn't restart the conversation immediately, Helena prompted her.

"Why do you think you messed up the TiMER?"

Myka knew she'd been mostly coming off as rude or unwelcoming since their TiMERs went off. That was why she'd come over here; she wanted to clear up that impression. But now it was time to explain, and the words weren't coming out.

She had to do this, though. She'd already brought it up.

"The summer before eighth grade," she began, "my parents let me attend this week-long science camp at U of C - Denver. Which was a really big deal; I had to beg them for months to let me go. I met this boy when I was there. His name was Sam. He was from Colorado Springs, too, but he was a year older and lived in another district.

"I really liked him. We stayed in touch when we got back. Then we started dating. And it wasn't - I was thirteen so I didn't have a TiMER yet, and his parents didn't want him to get his right away. They wanted him to be in high school first so it wasn't…."

"It wasn't casual," Helena finished. "It was real, it had potential."

The word 'real' made Myka's stomach twist. "Yeah. I mean we were kids still, but it wasn't like the makeout buddies that everyone has now. It was different."

She continued. "For Christmas that year, he got his TiMER. Too many people have them now so we didn't really expect the countdown to be blank. But I didn't expect it to have six years on it, either."

The story was getting harder to tell. She could feel the heat in her face already and was sure her cheeks were glowing red.

"I thought it was just because I didn't have mine yet. Sam pretended that was true, that it would go off in a few months after I turned fourteen and got my TiMER, but when my birthday came, our TiMERs didn't match. They counted down to different days. The next day, he broke up with me."

"But he stayed with you for those months before," Helena said.

Myka shrugged. "Six years is a long time. It was nice to pretend, I don't know. It didn't matter. I didn't really want to talk to him either. I was too embarrassed." She was really embarrassed now, as well. She hadn't raised her eyes from the table for a while.

"Is that when you started covering your TiMER?"

Myka nodded.

"Because you were embarrassed over what happened."

"Because I didn't want the reminder of how stupid I had been." A little bitterness slipped into her tone, and Myka worried Helena would take away the wrong idea. "It's not because I still like him. I did for a little while, but it was that kind where you like someone, but you know it would never work. I didn't want us to get back together. I guess I wished we had never dated at all. Or that the TiMERs never existed."

She finally looked up at Helena. The girls expression was passive and unreadable.

"I've been upset with myself for doing everything with the TiMER wrong and was taking it out on you. This isn't an excuse, but I thought you should know why."

The bell rang to signal the end of lunch. Neither of them moved as the deafening sounds of chairs scraping the floor and shouting replaced the steady murmur of voices. Then, Helena stood up, and Myka quickly picked up her things to stand, too. She wasn't sure where their conversation had ended, if she had fixed anything or made everything worse by admitting too much. She moved to follow the crowd to the doors, but Helena stepped in close and leaned up towards her ear.

"You haven't messed up anything." She pulled back to meet Myka's eyes. "You did nothing wrong."

"Okay." Because she really didn't know what else to say to that. Helena looked so sincere and not at all like she was judging Myka.

When they were in the hallway, Helena reached out and gently pulled her back by the arm.

"Thank you for telling me. I'm glad you did."

"Me too," Myka said. And strangely, she was.


	5. Impromptu Trip

**Update July 8, 2013:** Sorry for the long wait! This story is more complicated than I've been treating it and it was causing problems (so I wrote other things to avoid those problems :S). But I have a brilliant new beta/sounding board and a solid grip on what this story is meant to be now! And I've completed three out of four scenes for the next installment. New chapter will be up soon! I want to say by end of the week, but I've said it before and it doesn't happen. So even though I feel really good about finishing this new chapter finally, I'm sticking with "soon" for its posting date. But if you are looking for more high school AU before then, and haven't read my fic But You're Friction, feel free to check it out over on Archive of Our Own (same penname). :) It's where the high school settings/scenes I couldn't use in this fic got utilized.

—

Helena was waiting at Myka's locker the next morning. Myka spotted her as she walked down the hall. It sent her nerves fluttering, but she couldn't say exactly why. They didn't get a chance to talk much, though. The bell rang as Myka entered her combination.

"Ugh, Pete!" Myka said, glaring at her locker because it was there and Pete wasn't.

"Was it his fault you're late?" Helena asked.

"Yes." Myka unloaded her books and hooked her backpack inside. "He claims his second alarm didn't go off today."

"Perhaps you should find a new ride," Helena said. Myka shut her locker.

"Don't think I haven't considered that."

—

Myka didn't see Helena enter the library during her history class (and yes, she did check the halls before entering the classroom). Still, she ducked her head in the doorway later when the bell rang for lunch. She found Helena sitting at a table, writing away in a notebook, and seemingly unaware that the bell had rang.

"You're going to be late for lunch."

Helena looked up and broke into a smile. She stood and began gathering her stuff.

"Were you waiting on me?"

"No," Myka denied. "I was just… noticing."

"Noticing that I was running late?"

Lame. That sounded so lame. She should've just admitted to waiting. Too late now. "Yes."

Helena smiled again, wider and looking far too smug. She stepped into the doorway where Myka still stood, bringing herself within inches of Myka.

"It seems only fair," Helena smirked. "You did keep me waiting this morning, after all."

Frustration, or something like it, settled, warm and heavy, in Myka's gut just below her ribs and didn't fade as the girl glided out to the hall.

"Are you coming?"

Her frustration grew.

Myka wasn't entirely certain how Helena wound up at their lunch table. They both must have assumed that's where Helena was supposed to sit, because the girl followed without asking, and Myka didn't think to question it until lunch was half over. But by then, another topic had taken their attention, courtesy of the youngest at the table.

"So what kind of things do you invent?" Claudia asked. Myka turned to Helena.

"You're an inventor?" she asked. Helena nodded.

"Well, sort of," the girl clarified. "They're mostly scribbles at the moment. Fleeting ideas I've had."

"Is that what you're always writing in your notebook?"

"Yes."

Myka wanted to ask more, but Claudia was bouncing impatiently in her seat and couldn't hold back any longer.

"But what kind of inventions do you do?" she asked again. "Do you build with computers? Have you ever worked with infra-red? Because I'm trying to rig my bedroom door to open and close by remote, but I'm having trouble with the receiver."

As it happened, Helena was familiar with infra-red technology. Claudia happily pulled out some sheets of paper and began sketching out her designs to show.

"Man, you got matched with a brainiac," Pete said to Myka, later.

"I know."

—

Myka visited Mr. Nielson's classroom on Friday morning.

"Yes?" he asked when she opened the door. He didn't look up from his desk.

"Good morning, Mr. Nielson."

Now he looked up. He even gave her a small smile.

"Hello, Myka. What can I help you with?"

This was it. The moment she'd spent last night mentally rehearsing for. She adjusted her grip on her books and walked into the room.

"I have a question about cryptography."

"Did you get stumped on the worksheets?"

"No, I finished them last night without any trouble. I was more wondering if you'd be open to inviting another student to the class."

Mr. Nielson narrowed his eyes at her. Myka took a deep breath and hurried on before she lost her nerve.

"It's Helena Wells, the senior who just moved here from London. She actually stopped by here on her first day." He wore a stony stare that was impossible to read. Myka continued. "Well, she's kind of bored with her classes. Her credits didn't transfer properly so she's taking classes that she already knows all the material for. She should be in all AP classes or maybe even in college." - A nasty feeling swept through Myka's stomach at the thought - "She's brilliant enough to have graduated already, but she hasn't. She's here, and I thought maybe cryptography would be good for her, to help keep her interested. And you know the material so well, I know you'd be able to challenge her." Myka was running out of steam, and Mr. Nielson's expression still hadn't changed. "So, what do you think?"

Mr. Nielson stared at her for another moment. "Helena Wells has a reputation of skipping school, not turning in her work, and ignoring authority, according to her previous schools."

Myka's heart sank. "But she hasn't done any of those things since she's started here. Well, she missed once, but it was an excused absence. Her uncle signed her out." Myka bit her lip. "She's just bored, Mr. Nielson." Bored like Claudia had been - but Myka didn't say it. She wasn't sure if the comparison would win him over or set him firmly against the idea of inviting Helena. "She needs a challenge. You could challenge her."

Mr. Nielson's eyes narrowed so his eyebrows seemed even more prominent. "Isn't this the girl your TiMER matched you with?"

"That's not why I'm asking this." Myka shook her head.

"But it might be why I say yes or no. Now, tell me: is this the girl you've been matched with?"

"Yes," Myka nearly whispered. He wasn't going to let Helena in now. He thought she was trying to spend more time with her girlfriend. He won't even give Helena a chance.

"Okay."

Myka blinked. "What?"

Mr. Nielson pointed at her. "But I'm not going to waste time catching her up on the material she's missed. She's going to have to get caught up on her own time."

"No, yeah," Myka said. "I can get her caught up. That won't be a problem."

"Alright, she can start Monday." Mr. Nielson returned his attention to the pile of papers he'd been grading. Myka breathed out a relieved smile.

"Thank you, Mr. Nielson."

"Mmm hmm." His eyes flicked up to her briefly in acknowledgment. Myka tamped down the odd urge to hug him (boy, would _that_ get her into trouble) and rushed out the door to find Helena.

—

"Will the exams contain both questions on the historical significance and practical decoding problems?" Helena asked. It was the evening, and they were all back in Pete's basement for movie night. Myka was walking Helena through her cryptography binder.

"Shh!"

"Yeah," Myka said, ignoring Pete's warning. "He's still trying to find the right balance between the two. So far, his tests have taken me at least an hour. They need to fit into our fifty-five minute class periods."

Helena frowned. "Does this mean he'll be watering down the exams now?"

From the other end of the sectional, Claudia snorted. "You obviously don't know Artie."

"Claude's right," Myka said. "The exams won't get shorter, especially as we move into more complicated methods of encoding." She smiled as Helena's eyes gleamed with the challenge.

"Hey, nerds!" Myka and Helena looked over at Pete. "Not only are you talking through the movie," he said, "but you're talking about school during the movie. On a Friday night."

"What is your point?" Helena asked.

"You're ruining the sanctity of the weekend," Pete said. "And the sanctity of movie night."

"I'm pretty sure you ruined that already when you spoiled the end of the movie," Myka said.

"Hey now, no popcorn privileges were ever taken away."

"Popcorn privileges?" Helena asked, but Myka shook her head.

"Never mind. Pete, what do you want me to do? She has to get caught up by Monday."

"No school talk!"

"We'll keep it down." Myka turned back to the binder, but Pete reached across and plucked it out of Helena's lap.

"Hey!" both girls said.

"Mykes, I love you, and you need to remember this rule was created out of that love for you," Pete said, very seriously. "No school on Friday nights."

"I feel I've missed something," Helena said, glancing at Myka. Myka was busy glaring at Pete.

"Give us back the binder, Pete."

"Nope."

"Pete!"

"Promise no more school talk."

"It's not like I'm doing homework! This is tutoring."

"No more school talk or I'll put in Mega Shark vs Giant Octopus."

Myka froze. Slowly and evenly she said, "I will murder you." In the corner, of her eye she saw Helena raise an eyebrow.

"Now what's the significance of Mega Shark vs Giant Octopus? Besides being, what I assume is, a terrible movie."

Pete broke into an awful, _awful_ smile.

Oh. No.

"Well," he drew out. Myka lunged before he could say any more.

"Pete!" She got her hand over his mouth, but he kept trying to talk around it. "Don't you dare!" Pete struggled against her, and the two toppled over onto the floor, narrowly missing the snacks and coffee table. Shouts from the others rose up.

"Dude, are you crazy?" yelled Claudia.

"You know she can kick your butt, right?" Steve added. Pete was laughing.

"Hey, she's your One. I'm sure she won't judge you."

"Pete, I swear to god!" Myka fought to gag him again so he wouldn't spill anything else, but she seemed to have lost the advantage now that they were on the ground. She reached over to the table and came up with one of the giant marshmallows.

"Hey, what?" Myka shoved the marshmallow in his mouth stopping the rest of his protests.

"Shut up!"

Pete grinned at her around the marshmallow.

"Ahem!" Someone said behind them. Myka spotted Pete's mother at the base of the stairs and sprang away from Pete.

"Sorry, Jane!" she said. "We didn't mean to get so loud. Your son was being insufferable."

"Well, that I would believe," Jane said. Pete gave a muffled 'hey!' as he stood up, coughing around the marshmallow he was trying to chew. "But I actually didn't come down here for the noise this time. I need Helena."

"What for?" Helena asked, looking puzzled.

"Your uncle is upstairs. He wants to talk to you."

Helena frowned further and didn't move immediately. Myka watched the girl process as her own mind reeled to catch up. Why would Helena's uncle be here? It was only nine. He didn't pick her up last week until movie night was completely over. Was something wrong?

"Then, I suppose I'd better go and see him." Helena stood and followed Jane up the stairs.

Myka could sense the others exchanging looks, but she kept her eyes on the stairs. She hesitated another second, and then she got up and climbed upstairs as well. She wanted to know what was going on.

They were in the entryway of the house. Myka held back in the archway dividing off the kitchen and watched them from across the living room. Helena's uncle was older than Myka had expected. A ring of white hair surrounded a mostly balded top, and he had a white beard as well. He stood a couple of inches shorter than Helena, but still had a presence that felt intimidating (though it may have come off as only charismatic if the situation had been any different). Helena held her arms crossed across her chest and looked angry.

"But what does it matter if my parents called? I'm under your custody now."

"I'll explain it later. For now, I'm afraid you have to come home."

Helena remained where she was. Myka couldn't see her face, but her shoulders were tense and she seemed to be gripping her arms tightly.

"Helena."

Helena's uncle spoke gently. He didn't look angry. Whatever the problem was, he didn't appear to be the origin. Helena finally turned and, without glancing at Myka, walked back through the rooms to the basement stairs, presumably to retrieve her bag. Myka stayed in the kitchen doorway.

She looked back at Helena's uncle and caught his eye. She wondered how much he knew, if he was aware of who she was, or if Helena had kept her identity a secret. Helena's uncle didn't say anything. He simply waited for Helena to return.

It didn't take long. Not even a minute passed before Helena reemerged from the basement stairwell, shoulder bag in tow. This time, she stopped by Myka.

"Thank you for convincing Mr. Nielson to allow me into cryptography," she smiled.

"Are you okay?" Myka asked. Helena nodded, still keeping the smile in place.

"Everything is fine," she said. "I'll see you on Monday." She walked away, following her uncle to the door, and Myka had to call out.

"Wait."

Helena stopped and looked back.

"The binder," Myka said. "Just, hang on." She turned and darted down the stairs. Down in the basement, she spotted her cryptography binder on the floor where it'd been dropped. She scooped it up, ignoring questions from the others, and ran back upstairs.

Helena was still in the entryway, waiting for her.

"Here." Myka handed her the binder. "You should take this with you. So you can be prepared on Monday."

Helena smiled at her again. It looked a little more genuine this time and was laced with gratitude and… sadness? Myka didn't understand, and she didn't get a chance to, because Helena's uncle was calling her name again, and then they were both walking out the front door.

"Bye," Myka said as the door closed behind them.

"What happened?" Pete asked when Myka resettled on the couch downstairs.

"Nothing. Helena just had to leave." Myka nudged the remote on the coffee table with her foot. "Restart the movie."

—

"Ow!" Myka said when the cardboard flap sliced into her hand. She winced as the skin at the base of her thumb started stinging and a spot of blood leaked out. She brought it to her mouth for a few seconds and then checked to see if it was going to keep bleeding. It didn't. The cut was shallow, but boy, did it still sting. Myka shook out her hand.

"Stupid box." She was trying to unpack a late shipment of books at her father's bookstore. Normally, the shipments came in during the morning, but this box didn't arrive until lunch. Her father wanted the contents out on the shelves, pronto.

Satisfied she wouldn't drip blood anywhere, Myka went back to lifting up the box flaps. She pulled out the new hardcovers, being sure to keep all rough edges away from that sensitive section of skin between her thumb and index finger. She didn't need another paper cut.

She was halfway through the box when her cell phone buzzed. Myka frowned. Her friends knew better than to call on Saturday when she was working, and if anyone in her family needed her, they could simply walk into the back room of the store. She checked her phone and didn't recognize the number. The area code was correct, though, so she answered thinking it might be a mis-dial.

"Hello?"

"Hello, is this Myka?" The British accent was clear even over the phone.

"Helena?" Myka looked around like the girl was nearby instead of wherever she was calling from. "Where did you get my number?"

"I found it."

"Found it where?" It wasn't like there was a phone book for people's cell phone numbers.

"On Claudia's mobile."

"Claudia gave you my number?" Of course, she did. Well, at least it hadn't been Pete.

"No, I said I found your number. Claudia might not have been aware that I'd borrowed her mobile to do so."

Helena said it so casually like she hadn't just admitted to something that could be labeled stalking. Myka shook her head.

"Okay," she said. It was still hard to wrap her head around the fact that Helena was calling her. "I thought you didn't have a phone."

"I didn't. My uncle just bought me this one today. A good day for it. It's already coming in handy."

Myka was still processing. "Okay."

"Are you angry that I called?"

"No," Myka said. "Just, I guess, confused. What are you doing?"

"Currently, I'm trying to find your house, but I don't have much information to go on."

Myka frowned. "I don't live in a house. I live above a bookstore."

"Hold on, you live above a bookstore?"

"Yes." Myka didn't understand Helena's tone.

"Is it Bering and Sons?"

"Yes," Myka said, wondering how Helena had heard of her father's bookstore after only living in town for a week.

"I think I just passed it."

"Wait, what? You're here?" Myka jolted up from where she'd been leaning against the back room's table.

"Well, almost." Now Helena sounded amused or entertained or something else that was not at all calming to Myka's pounding heart.

"Why?"

"Because I was on my way to the university library and thought you might like to join me."

University library? "UCCS?" Myka asked. "But we're not students there."

"It's open to the public until five."

"Really?" Oh, this opened up a whole new world of possibilities for Myka. She had always stuck to the high school or city library, but a college library would be filled with hundreds and hundreds - _thousands_ maybe - of academic books, covering more topics and in more depth than the city library.

"They'll have journals there," Myka mostly said to herself, but Helena still heard it over the phone.

"Indeed, they will, which is the main reason I wanted to visit."

Myka looked down at the partially unpacked box of books. Her hopes fell.

"Thank you for inviting me, but I'm afraid I can't go."

"Why not?"

"I'm working today, and my dad won't let me off early," Myka said.

"I believe I can take care of that." Myka heard the store bell ring.

"Are you here?" But Helena had already hung up. Myka put her phone back in her pocket and crept out of the back room.

Yep, there was Helena, standing in the front of Bering & Sons, wearing her boots and a long jacket even though it was still in the fifties outside. And now she was smiling and shaking hands with - _oh dear lord, she's talking to my father._ Myka's insides twisted up with dread. How did today so quickly spiral into this?

Cautiously, she walked towards the front of the store, mentally preparing for the entire TiMER situation to come tumbling out in the open. Her mother should probably come downstairs as well so Myka could get this all over with at once. And then receive her grounding for not telling her parents about it for over a week. This was going to suck.

"Myka," her father said when she reached the counter. "Is this your new friend?"

Myka glanced nervously at Helena and then back to her father. "Yes."

"She's quite the charmer. Just said how much she abhors the big chain stores."

"Well, they have no appreciation for the art they carry," Helena said. "They see everything in terms of profit. Independent stores pay closer attention to the quality of the books they sell."

"Yes, we do," Myka's father said. "Though, we still have to keep an eye on the profit." Helena laughed. Myka was twisting her hands together and wondering when her father would put the pieces together.

"Now, why were you looking for Myka?"

_Right about now, probably. _"Um." Myka's eyes shot over to Helena in panic, but Helena answered smoothly.

"We're in physics class together, and Mr. MacPherson just assigned this large lab report, very in-depth. It's practically a research paper for as much information as he wants to see on the gravitational constant. I was quite overwhelmed since I just moved here, but Myka generously offered to get me up to speed and assist me with the research. She's a real life-saver."

"Were you supposed to meet today to work on this?" Myka's father frowned at Myka, and she knew he was wondering why she'd make plans during her scheduled work times.

"Oh, no," Helena said. "But my uncle's an engineering professor at UCCS and told me about all the fantastic texts they have in their library. I was wondering if Myka was available to go over there with me. I would wait for a different time, now that I know she's working, but the library is only open to the public during select hours, and most of those are during school. We can't very well skip class to visit the library. I doubt our teachers would appreciate that, no matter how educational the trip would be."

Myka shot her an exasperated look.

"Hmm," Myka's father exhaled heavily. Myka was stunned. He was actually considering letting her go out with Helena. "How long is it open to the public today?"

"Just until five," Myka said. The small hope growing inside her was bringing back her voice. She crossed her fingers behind her back.

"And how far did you get on the new shipment?'

_Crap._ "Not far," Myka admitted. "About halfway."

Long seconds passed with her father staring at her, mulling this proposal over. _Please, please, please, please, please._

"I'll get Tracy to finish it up," her father said. "You can go on to the library."

"Really?" Myka breathed out in relief.

"It sounds like an important paper you have to do."

"Uh, yeah. Yeah, it is."

When Myka didn't move, her father shooed her and said, "Well, go get your stuff. Hurry up!"

"Yes, sir." Myka exchanged a look with Helena and then rushed through the store to run upstairs and grab her backpack.

"Tracy, Dad needs you to work downstairs," she said as she passed by the living room.

"What? But I'm busy doing homework!" Tracy said from the couch. "You're supposed to be helping him."

Myka came out with her bag. "Well, now _I'm_ busy doing homework." She ducked back down the stairs, but Tracy gave chase.

"What homework? You finished all of yours already. Oohhhh…" Myka looked back to find Tracy paused at the bottom of the stairs. A wide grin broke out across her sister's face. She must have spotted Helena.

"You're busy doing _that_ homework. I gotcha."

"Shut up!" Myka hissed.

"Hey, I'm not going to say anything. You go have fun doing your 'homework'." Tracy giggled. Myka decided to ignore her sister and focus on getting Helena out the door as soon as possible.

"Ready?" she asked Helena when she got back up to the front of the store.

"Of course."

Her father spotted Tracy. "Your sister has to go work on a physics project, so I need you to go finish that box she was working on."

"Physics, huh?" Tracy said. "You sure it wasn't biology?"

Myka glared. "I'm not in biology."

"Really? I thought this was an independent study thing."

"Tracy!" Surprisingly, it was their father and not Myka that cut her off. "Knock it off and get to work. You two," he turned to Myka and Helena, "get out of here before it gets too late."

"Yes, Dad." Myka headed for the door.

"Thank you, Mr. Bering!" Helena said before following.

"I told you I could get you out of work," she said once they were outside.

"Yeah, except now he'll be asking me about that made-up physics paper for weeks."

"Tell him it's due Friday. Then, he'll only harass you for one week."

Myka halted when she saw Helena walk around to the driver's side of a blue, two-door car parked out front.

"Whoa, what are you doing?"

Helena looked up at her. "Getting in the vehicle."

"You drove here? When did you get your license?"

"What exactly is a license? Besides a laminated card. Surely, it isn't an accurate representation of one's driving abilities."

"You drove over here without a driver's license?" Myka said.

Helena shrugged. "The first few streets were a challenge as all the traffic was headed straight for me, but then I scooted to this lane on the right and everything went much more smoothly."

"No." Myka began walking around the car.

"I was joking," Helena said. "I know the differences in traffic laws here."

"No." Myka reached the driver's side and held out her hand for the keys.

"I was perfectly safe driving over here," Helena said. "I swear, not a single accident or near-miss."

"I'm not riding with an unlicensed driver." Myka motioned with her hand. "Hand over the keys."

Helena observed her for a moment, one eyebrow arched up, but then she surrendered the keys.

"You know, Pete warned me you'd had control issues," she said as she walked back around to the passenger side.

"Pete needs to mind his own business." Both girls got into the car, and Myka started the ignition. "And I'm not as big of a control freak as he claims. I just prefer not to die in a car crash. Or get arrested."

She noticed Helena smirking.

"What?"

"Pete didn't say a word to me," Helena laughed. "Though, clearly he should have."

"Hey!"

Helena laughed again and looked out the window. Myka adjusted the car's controls and pulled them out of the parking spot.

"You, of course, also realize you're uninsured for this vehicle."

"Yeah, well somehow I doubt your uncle's insurance covers you either at the moment, so we're both screwed there."

Helena nodded. "And he also might not be entirely aware that I borrowed his car."

"Oh geez," Myka sighed.

—

"So," Myka said as they walked from the short-term parking lot to the campus library. "You stole a car from your uncle and lied to my dad in order to come here."

"Are you regretting coming with me, now?" Helena asked. Myka examined the large brick building looming before them. It had a tower with a glass-prism roof that made it look impressive even without knowing the building was a library.

"Were you also lying about it being open to the public today?"

"No. That part was completely true."

"Then, no, I'm not regretting this," Myka side-eyed the other girl. "Yet."

Myka definitely didn't regret it when they walked inside. The entire building felt collegiate, like the knowledge contained inside was pulsing, waiting for someone to open a text and let it escape back into the world.

"Wow," she whispered.

"It seems the journals are kept down this way."

"Uh huh," Myka said, looking around at all the shelves filled with books, and at the stairs leading up to more shelves filled with books. They had books covering psychology and philosophy here, detailed anatomy texts, biochemistry, anthropology, history, geography - what if they had historical maps stored here? Or at least replicas to study. Where was she supposed to start?

"Myka."

"What?" Myka found Helena staring at her. She got the uneasy feeling that hadn't been the first time Helena had said her name.

"Would you like to split up to explore?" Helena asked.

"Um," Myka bit her lip and looked over the expanse of shelves again. She looked back at Helena. "Meet back up in an hour?"

Helena smiled and nodded her head towards the direction behind her. "I'll be with the science journals."

"Okay." Myka eagerly bounced off to examine the UCCS library's collection.

—

Some time longer than an hour later, Myka tracked down Helena in the M-Z academic journal archive room. The girl was sitting at one end of a long table set up in the middle of the room. Multiple bound journals were stacked around her, along with her ever-present notebook of inventions. She had pulled one journal close and was reading an article in it. No one else was currently around.

Myka laid a book on the table and sat down next to Helena.

"They have a biography on Mary Wollstonecraft," she said. "Several actually."

"Who?" Helena asked while still focused on her article.

"Mary Wollstonecraft. Mary Shelley's mother."

Now Helena looked up. "Why would there be a biography on Mary Shelley's mother?"

"Because she was a philosopher and early feminist and wrote A Vindication of the Rights of Woman." Then, Myka admitted, "Okay, I got that information from the intro. I actually only recognized her name because of this British history book I read last year. It mentioned her suicide attempt when she tried to drown herself in the Thames."

"Cheery," Helena said.

Myka grimaced. "Yeah, I know. But now," she held up the book, "I have an entire biography to read and do Mary Wollstonecraft justice." Myka grinned. Helena seemed to be holding back a smile of her own. "You weren't planning on leaving soon, were you?"

"Not until I was forced to."

"Perfect." Not wanting to bother Helena any more than she already had, Myka glanced around for another place to read her book. She spotted a large beanbag that someone had dragged down here and then abandoned. That would work. She got up and pulled it around to an aisle behind Helena's seat. The beanbag took up the entire aisle, but Myka squashed it down and arranged it so she could have her head propped up by one side of shelves and her legs tucked in against the other side.

"Comfy?" Helena asked, turned around in her chair to watch.

"Yes," Myka answered, unashamed. She smiled and opened the cover to one woman's world in the eighteenth century.

—

The biography wasn't terribly long despite the larger type size doing its best to increase page count. Still, it was long enough that when Myka finished, her mouth felt dry and her body ached from the floor. She couldn't tell how much time had passed; this archive room didn't have any windows. They were still the only ones down here. Gingerly, Myka stood up and stretched. Then she walked back to Helena's table.

"Interesting book?" Helena asked.

Myka shrugged. "The content, yes. The presentation, not so much. It was pretty dry and didn't really capture any of her personality." She scooted her chair back from the table so she could comfortably lay her head on her arms.

"You look glum."

"The woman had two suicide attempts, multiple affairs that ended badly, and was almost constantly criticized by the public. It was a depressing biography." Searching for a subject change, Myka's eyes skimmed over the titles of the journals Helena had been reading. "So what invention are you researching?" It seemed to fall somewhere in the sociology and neuroscience fields.

"I'm not -" Helena started. "It's not really for an invention. Just a foolish dream."

"What dream?" Myka asked.

Helena thought for a moment. "Have you heard of the collective consciousness?"

Myka nodded, but the motion was awkward because she still had her head down on the table. "It's the common set of beliefs and ideas that exist within a society."

"Yes, exactly." Helena grew more animated now that Myka had admitted familiarity with the topic. "But what if those commonalities didn't exist isolated within the minds of individuals? What if the collective consciousness took on a life of its own because the commonalities exerted their own energy, linking the minds within a society?"

Myka wrinkled her forehead and tried to work out where Helena was going with this.

"And what if," the girl continued, "one could use this energy to travel between minds."

Myka still didn't follow. "Mind reading?"

"No, not mind reading. That would require opening a door or a window into someone else's consciousness to observe. I theorize this would be more of a consciousness displacement where your consciousness would travel into another person's mind."

"But why would you want to take over someone's mind?"

"I wouldn't, honestly," Helena said. "But the collective consciousness is slow to change and always present, so, in addition to traveling laterally from mind-to-mind, I believe it would be possible to reach through time and connect it to the present."

Now Myka understood. "A method of time travel," she said, sitting up straight.

"To the past only, unfortunately."

Helena had not only day-dreamed about traveling through time, but she had come up with an entire theory to make it possible.

"You think I'm mad," Helena said, after a moment.

Myka blinked. She realized she'd been silent for too long. "No," she shook her head. "I think you might be a genius, actually."

Helena let out a short laugh. "Well, I am rather intelligent." Myka snorted and returned the girl's smirk. "But mostly I'm just stubborn. I made a promise several years ago that I'd like to keep one day."

"What promise?"

Helena twisted a loose string in one of the journal's binding.

"I promised my sister I'd take her to see the pyramids being built." She smiled. "It's always driven her crazy that no one could say for sure how the Egyptians managed to build them."

Myka was surprised. "I didn't know you had a sister."

"Christina. The baby of the family," Helena said. "She's eight -" the girl cut herself off. She took a breath and mustered up a smile. "Nine, actually. I missed her birthday."

Myka was becoming better at reading Helena's smiles (or Helena was becoming worse at masking her feelings). There was definitely pain reflected on the girl's face now.

"You're close with her, aren't you?"

Helena swallowed. "I adore her."

"And she's in London."

Helena nodded.

Myka still didn't understand this arrangement, why Helena and her brother had been sent to live with an uncle in the States while their little sister stayed behind with their parents in London. It didn't make any sense.

"Why did you leave England and move over here? It wasn't for school."

"Because my parents no longer wanted me around." Helena pulled out her phone and checked the time. "It's approaching five. We should leave."

Her abruptness kept Myka in her chair for a few more seconds. Then, she stood up, the biography in hand, and followed Helena out of the room. They dropped their books off at a return cart before walking out into the darkening evening.

They stayed quiet during the drive at first. Eventually, Myka spoke up.

"You don't get along with your parents, do you?"

"Does anybody?" Helena quipped.

Probably not. But that didn't usually lead to the parents shuttling their kid off to another country.

"What happened last night? Why did you have to leave early?" Myka risked a look to the passenger side and noticed Helena's jaw clench.

"My parents decided to enforce a curfew. From almost five thousand miles away."

"What?"

Helena sighed. "They called my uncle last night - for what reason they thought to call in the middle of the night London time, I cannot fathom. Apparently, they were furious to learn I wasn't home and insisted my uncle go and fetch me immediately. I had to call them back to prove I was home, and they then proceeded to berate me and pin me with a nine pm curfew."

"Every day?" Myka asked. "Even weekends?"

"So they say, but that's why my uncle bought me this phone today. My parents can call me directly to shout and ask my whereabouts. I tell them I'm home with my uncle, they're satisfied, and I carry on with my business." Helena turned to face her, and Myka glanced over again.

"It won't interfere with your movie night again."

"Oh," Myka said. "Okay." Future movie nights had been the furthest concern from her mind. "Did they give your brother a curfew too?"

"No," Helena said, her voice tight. "Just me."

"Why?" Myka looked over again, but Helena was back to staring out the window.

"Because I'm the irresponsible one."

—

Myka pulled into the same spot in front of Bering & Sons they'd left earlier and set the gear in park.

"Will you be letting me drive home, unlicensed?" Helena asked. Myka thought she was trying for humor, but she was clearly still upset from the talk about her parents.

Myka stared over at the storefront for a while, debating with herself. Her father would still be working for another couple of hours, but upstairs, her mom and sister were probably setting up for dinner.

Making her decision, she shut the ignition off and pulled her backpack out of the backseat.

"So, that's a no? A yes?" Helena said. Myka gave her the keys.

"Come on." She climbed out of the car and walked towards the bookstore. Helena climbed out too when Myka reached the sidewalk.

"What are we doing?"

Myka turned at the door. "Just, come on." She took Helena's hand and pulled her inside.


	6. The Sleepover

**Author's Note:** There's an update! Sorry for the huge delay. This story is longer than I originally anticipated, and as a result, I had a lot of kinks to work out in the pacing and outline. A huge, huge, HUGE round of applause, standing ovation style, to Tumblr user **ohthesefeelingz** (unsure if she has a account) for being my beta/sounding board for this chapter and the rest of this story. Seriously, she is so flipping fantastic. If you enjoy this chapter, you owe most of the thanks to her. She basically held my hand during the drafts and gently steered me in the right direction. I think she might be a miracle worker. Or a god. Or both. *hearts* There will still be a wait for the next chapter, because these installments are ginormous (and getting longer?), but you shouldn't have to wait three months for an update again. Thank you to everyone who's read and stuck with this story! I really appreciate your patience and support! :)

* * *

"Mom?" Myka led Helena through her home. "Mom?"

Her mother came out of the bedroom holding a pillow she was stuffing back into a pillowcase.

"I'm trying to finish laundry. What do you need?" She noticed Helena. "Oh, hello! Myka, who's this?"

"This is Helena," Myka said. "She's my friend." Her stomach flipped a little with the lie. _Not a lie. Just an incomplete truth._

"Oh, so this is that new friend you mentioned."

"No. I didn't mention her." Myka looked at Helena. "I never said anything."

"Well, that's true," her mother said. "Myka never tells us anything. It's very nice to meet you, Helena."

Helena smiled. "It's nice to meet you, too."

"Are you staying for dinner?"

Yes. That was exactly why Myka had brought her in. She turned her head back to Helena.

"Do you want to?" Myka's fingers twisted around themselves while she waited.

Helena's eyes searched out Myka's. "Alright," she answered, slowly. She looked at Myka's mother. "Yes, I'd love to stay for dinner."

Myka smiled.

* * *

Myka set the table for dinner, but her mother wouldn't allow Helena to help with anything.

"You're a guest. Just sit down."

Myka tensed a little when her father walked in. iPlease be nice./i He frowned when he saw Helena.

"You two were gone a while. Did you finish your project?" He mainly directed the question to Myka.

"Uh, yeah. Yes, we finished it," Myka said.

"You're staying for dinner, then?" Her father squinted at Helena.

"Mom said it was okay," Myka said.

"Of course it is." Her mother pointed to the stove. "Warren, will you take the cornbread over, please?"

Her parents kept the conversation directed towards Helena through dinner, which Myka was more than fine with. Until her mother asked: "Helena, I see you're matched already."

Myka dropped her bite of stew back in the bowl and looked at Helena. Helena didn't glance at her.

"Dating is so different these days with those TiMERs," her mother continued. "I bet meeting your One was exciting, though."

Myka couldn't catch Helena's eye. She wouldn't turn her head. Then, Myka realized that was probably best because if they exchanged any sort of odd looks, her mother would notice.

"It was," Helena answered slowly, "interesting."

"Are they still in London? You two can't have been together very long."

Myka's heart raced. Her mother was going to put two and two together any second. Why did she invite Helena for dinner? This was the worst idea she'd ever had.

"The relationship is rather new, yes." Helena was unbelievably calm. And still facing her mother, but was that actually weird? Would it have been more natural for Helena to glance at the rest of the table? Wait, what should Myka be doing during this? Looking interested? Appearing like she'd heard it all before? Probably not looking deer-in-the-headlights panicked. Or maybe sick - Myka wasn't sure which emotion was showing on her face, but she fought to get rid of it.

Her dad tapped the table in front of her. "Eat." It startled Myka.

"I am." She looked up at him, and he pointed to her food. "I'm, I'm eating." She pinched off a bite of cornbread to appease him. She wasn't calm enough to eat yet, but at least the annoyance curbed her fear for a moment.

"Well, Helena," her mother said, "I'm sorry you have to be separated from your One so soon. That must be hard on you both."

The cornbread was difficult to swallow. It stuck to Myka's throat, even after chewing.

"Oh, for Pete's sake," her father said. "The girl came over here for school. And I hope you," he was pointing at Helena now, "have a One who understands that. You're too young to be worrying about some grand love or whatnot. School should come first."

God, how many times had Myka heard that lecture? "Dad." And he turned his attention to her.

"School is important, Myka," he said. No, duh. Myka tried very hard to not glare at him because it would start a fight.

"It's alright," Helena said. "My parents have given me a similar speech about the importance of school." She smiled. "And you needn't worry, Mr. Bering. My schoolwork hasn't been negatively impacted by the TiMER. If anything, my grades have improved since my TiMER went off."

"You didn't get straight A's back.. before?" Myka had almost said 'back in London' which would've implied her TiMER had gone off _here_ after the move, but she managed to catch herself.

Helena smiled but also grimaced. "I was a bit awful at completing my assignments."

"How do you expect to do well in school if you don't finish your assignments?" Myka's father asked.

"Dad!"

"It's a simple question."

Myka shook her head. He always had to do this: ask questions, pass judgment. He couldn't leave a subject alone. And he was berating Helena when she was a _guest_. Myka dropped her focus to her bowl of stew and poked at it with her spoon.

"Warren," her mother said, "they've been working on a homework assignment all afternoon. I think we can leave them alone about school for tonight."

Myka still hadn't taken another bite of her food. She kept pushing the same chunk of potato around her bowl.

"Myka, would you please pass me a napkin?" Helena asked. Myka reached over for the stack on the table. The lean made her other hand drop to her lap, and she felt Helena's hand curl around it. Myka looked at Helena's eyes, trying to read them, as she handed over the napkin.

"Thank you." Helena smiled normally and squeezed her hand before slipping away. She made a comment or asked a question, the conversation had changed, but Myka wasn't aware of the words. She was trying to figure out why Helena had taken her hand.

After a moment, she realized she was staring, and Helena probably knew but wasn't calling attention to it so her parents wouldn't notice.

Myka glanced away and picked up her spoon again to finish her dinner.

* * *

"Sorry for how dinner went." They stood in the doorway of her bedroom while her mother cleaned up the kitchen.

"I thought it was a lovely dinner," Helena said.

Myka scoffed. "Yeah. Really lovely when my dad started talking."

"Still tamer than some meals with my parents." Helena's eyes glinted. "And it was fun crafting vague yet truthful answers to those TiMER inquiries."

"Oh god." Myka winced. "I almost had a heart attack when my mom brought that up."

"I could tell," Helena said with a grin. "I believed I handled it well, though."

Myka laughed and nodded. "Yeah. You did, you handled it well." She considered for a moment. "So your grades have gone up since you met me, huh?"

Helena rolled her eyes. "Don't take all the credit for it. My parents did threaten extreme action if I didn't improve."

Myka nodded. "It's because I make you finish your physics homework, isn't it?"

Helena huffed. "But the problems are so tedious and hardly worth the time to view, let alone complete."

Myka laughed again.

Her mother called for her. Myka leaned to look down the hall.

"Can you come here for a moment?" Her mother beckoned.

Myka walked back to the kitchen.

"So things seem to be going well with Helena," her mother said.

"Um, yeah." _Don't ask me about the TiMER. Don't ask me about the TiMER. Oh god, don't ask me about the TiMER._

"You should see if she wants to spend the night."

...

...

What?

Wait, she didn't say that out loud. "What?"

"Well, Tracy's out for the night at Lexie's so she won't be around to bother you. And I think it'd be good for you."

She thought? How could her mother think anything? She didn't know the whole situation. She had no idea. "Mom, no." Myka shook her head.

Her mother's expression changed into something harder. "You can't be scared to ask her."

"I'm not scared to ask." Myka frowned.

"You don't hang out with your friends enough."

"I hang out with Pete all the time."

"Myka, it wouldn't hurt for you to branch out and make more friends."

"I have more friends." Though maybe Claudia and Steve wouldn't count as friends in her mom's book, especially since Claudia was only twelve. "And Helena and I are already friends."

"Then, you shouldn't have any problems seeing if she'd like to spend the night."

Myka heaved a sigh, still frowning. This would not be happening if her parents knew she'd been matched to Helena, but admitting her TiMER had gone off would lead to a thousand more questions that she wasn't willing to tackle tonight. There would also be yelling. But she couldn't let Helena spend the night, either. It'd appease her mom tonight, but it would just infuriate her parents more whenever they did learn about the match. She was stuck.

Helena might say no.

The thought caught her off guard. She'd been assuming that if she gave in to her mother, Helena would be spending the night, but Helena might not want to. Or she would see the problem with the situation and think up a good excuse to get out of it so no one got in trouble.

That wasn't comforting. She should feel relieved that Helena would likely provide the out she needed, but instead something tight was forming in her gut beneath her ribs. She looked over her shoulder down the hall, but Helena was no longer standing in the bedroom doorway. Myka couldn't see where she'd gone.

"Myka," her mother said. "Just go ask her. It'll be alright."

_No, it won't. You trapped me._ But she muttered "okay" and walked back down the hall.

She discovered Helena had slipped inside her bedroom and was now looking around.

"Caught you." A not-convincing look of guilt flashed across Helena's face.

"It was you who didn't close off the room," she said, but she sauntered over to the doorway where Myka stood. Myka crossed her arms and leaned back against the frame.

"My mom wants me to ask you to stay the night."

Helena raised her eyebrows. "And she isn't leaving you much choice in the matter, is she?"

Myka shook her head.

"We can say my uncle wants me home. Invent an excuse."

Yeah, they could. "But -" the skill of speech abandoned her for a moment, and she had to take a deep breath to start again. "Do you.. do you want to stay? Over here... tonight?"

Helena's eyes were flitting over every part of her face, and then she tilted her head. "Do you want me to stay?"

Myka stood up straight and glanced away. "I.. I, um, don't want you to leave yet." She gave a small laugh and shook her head. "It's stupid because I'll see you on Monday and like, every day at school, but I don't quite want you to leave yet." With trepidation, she met Helena's eyes again. Helena didn't look annoyed or angry or freaked out, so that was promising.

"You would miss me if I left."

Myka rolled her eyes. "No. Like I said, we'll see each other Monday. It's not a big deal."

"But you would miss me." Helena took a step towards which really shouldn't be possible with them both in the doorway. Myka refused to move away and shrugged.

"A little, I guess."

Slowly, Helena smiled. "My first American sleepover. This should be fun."

* * *

Myka wouldn't let her stay over just like that.

"You still need to make sure your uncle's okay with it."

"Why would I need to do that? I know he won't mind."

"Oh, did you just happen to have the foresight to ask for permission to spend the night at a friend's house before you left the house today?"

Helena looked baffled. "Permission?" But she finally agreed to call her uncle.

"Hello Chaturanga?" she said when the ringing stopped. Myka couldn't hear the answering voice, but the response changed Helena's expression to confusion for a moment. Then, it smoothed out. "No, I assure you the car and I are perfectly safe and in no trouble." A pause. "Oh, do have some faith. It isn't that difficult to drive in a new country. I am quite intelligent." Helena pursed her lips and began strolling in small paths through the hallway. "Yes, I did." Pause. "I wanted to visit the university library." She glanced over at Myka. "Well, that would have been lovely, but I ended up inviting Myka to join me. I'm actually at her house now. It's the reason I'm calling. I've been invited to stay here. Overnight." She sighed, and Myka wasn't sure if it was a sign of awkwardness or annoyance. "Yes. ... They do not. ..." Helena spun and walked further away from Myka. "Have I ever indicated that was my intention? I haven't been lying to you. ... Alright. ... Yes, we are." Myka looked over and wondered if that 'we' had been in reference to her. Helena muttered something incomprehensible. A moment later, she turned back towards Myka, and Myka saw she was frowning. "I'm not sure. Do you have a time you'd like me home? ... Yes, I can manage that. ... Alright. Thank you, Uncle. See you tomorrow." Helena hung up. The conversation had sounded positive, but Myka waited until Helena confirmed it.

"Well, he was far less angry for stealing his car than I would have expected." Helena smiled with a sense of cockiness in her eyes. "And I have his official permission to stay the night, now. Is that better?"

"Yes," Myka tilted her chin up in victory. "Much better."

Helena sighed and shook her head. "Such a waste of a phone call."

* * *

Myka felt like her mother hovered over them all night. Every two minutes, her mother seemed to appear, asking if they wanted anything to eat or anything to drink or - worst of all - making suggestions for activities.

"You know, we have Scrabble in the hall closet."

"No, the Scrabble game is in here," Myka said, meaning her bedroom.

"Oh, well you've already grabbed it, then. That's good. I was just checking." Her mother smiled and walked off. Myka closed the door behind her in the hopes that it would stop her mother from popping in and out.

"I grabbed the game three years ago," she couldn't help muttering.

"Did you steal it away in the night?" Helena asked, and Myka realized she'd heard that. "Or perhaps you tucked it away for a previous sleepover."

"No," Myka shook her head, feeling embarrassed. "A few years ago, Tracy started stealing our board games to take to slumber parties so her friends would think she was cool. I didn't want her to have all of them, so I stole some, too."

"Ah, then it was a rescue mission."

Myka shrugged. "She said I took all the boring games that she didn't want anyway, but I think she was just mad because I got to Guess Who before she did."

Helena glanced around the room and then stood up.

"What are you doing?"

"Sussing out your hiding spot for these war treasures."

Myka rolled her eyes at the exaggeration. "They're just stored under my bed."

Helena stared down at her with suspicion. "Under the bed where your sister could walk in and steal them at any time?"

Myka looked away and tried to smother her smile at being found out. "Guess Who is on my bookshelf, buried by my paperbacks."

"That's better." Helena grinned at her, and Myka laughed.

* * *

Some time later, Myka and Helena were working through their fourth game of Scrabble. Myka was up, two games to one, but Helena was ahead by a good sixty points this round. Myka frowned at her tiles, hoping she could find a word containing an 'o' that would be long enough to use the triple letter score space. Even better if that word landed her 'q' on the space.

Myka jolted from the game when the bedroom door opened. Unsurprising, it was her mother, but she was curiously holding a stack of blankets.

"I brought you girls some extra blankets. Let me know if you need more pillows." She leaned over their game on the floor to set the stack on the bed. "I'm not sure how you're doing sleeping arrangements, but don't," she looked at Helena, "let her push you to the floor. You're the guest; you get the bed."

"I wasn't going to make her sleep on the floor," Myka protested. Though, in truth, she hadn't considered where they were going to sleep.

She pushed herself off of her stomach to sit cross-legged, and glanced at her alarm clock. It was ten-thirty already.

"Alright." Her mother retreated back to the doorway. "Do you need any more pillows?"

Myka shook her head. She kept two on her bed. They'd be fine.

"Okay. At least, I don't have to ask you girls to be quiet through the night." Her mother smiled as she reached for the door handle. "You're already so quiet, we might forget you're here. Have a good night!" She shut the door as she left.

_Yep. I'm the good, quiet child who doesn't do anything except fight with Dad sometimes. Yay._ Myka looked over at the stack of blankets and remembered the huge lie she was currently telling her parents. _Okay, maybe not that good._ And now she was left with the nauseous task of figuring out sleeping arrangements with her One. She considered the options for all of a second.

_I can worry about that later._

"It's my turn, still," Myka said, arranging herself to lie on her stomach again.

"Is it?" Helena said. "You've been thinking for so long, I'd forgotten."

Myka narrowed her eyes. Helena merely smirked. "Would you care for a dictionary to help you?" she added.

"Hmph," Myka said, returning to her tiles. "Seeing as you've only won one of the last three games, I'd keep that dictionary for yourself."

"I can't see a need for it in this game."

"Even if you win, you'll still only tie me."

"Then, clearly we'll need a fifth to decide the victor."

Myka met Helena's challenging smirk with one of her own. "Then, we'll play that fifth. _If_ you can beat me in this game."

* * *

Helena did win that fourth game much to Myka's annoyance. She focused hard on the next game and let all concerns of TiMERs and parents and sleeping arrangements drift away. She wanted to win, and she would have if Helena hadn't played that last word.

"Really, ostrich?" she said while Helena laid out her tiles. It pushed Helena ahead by five measly points. "Ugh, freaking ostrich." Myka laid her face down on her arms.

"I suppose you can take comfort in the fact it took me five games to best you."

Myka lifted her head and stuck out her tongue. She sat up to help Helena clear off the board.

"I think that was the first time I've played a real game of Scrabble since I was seven," she said.

"Seven?"

Myka tossed her handful of tiles into the box. "That was when my dad stopped playing with me."

Helena dropped in her tiles while Myka folded the board. "You haven't played Scrabble with anyone since?"

"No. Well, I tried, but Pete's always more interested in spelling words like 'butt' than actually playing."

Helena snorted. "Your selection of Scrabble opponents must have been dreadful."

"I'm alone in my nerdhood." Myka frowned as she remembered Claudia's fascination with technology. "Alone in my literary nerdhood," she amended.

Helena stared at her, one eyebrow arched, and wearing a look of skepticism or amusement.

"What?" Myka asked.

"Did you just say nerdhood like it was a real word?"

"Shut up!" Myka laughed. "It's Pete's fault! He makes up words and then they sometimes get stuck in my head." She ducked her head and finished packing up the board game. When she looked up, Helena was smiling at her.

"What?" she asked again, wearily.

"You're adorable when you're indignant," Helena said. Myka rolled her eyes because it was the only response she could think of. She noticed her alarm clock declared the time to be after midnight and slid the Scrabble box underneath her bed.

"We should probably get ready for bed. I'm sure my dad will make me clean the store tomorrow since Tracy worked for me today."

"That won't take me long. Just a matter of removing my shoes." Helena stood up from the floor and stretched. Myka tried to work out what she meant. Then, she realized Helena hadn't packed a bag or anything for staying overnight. They had come to Myka's home straight from the library.

"Oh." Myka stood up. "You can borrow some of my clothes if you want." She opened her bottom dresser drawer and dug around. "Do you want shorts or pants?" She held up a pair of Soffe shorts and her high school sweatpants. She caught Helena biting down a smirk.

"What?" God, she was saying that a lot.

Helena shook her head. "Nothing." Though, she was clearly still amused about something. "The sweats will do fine."

Myka handed over the sweatpants and kept the shorts for herself. Then, she opened another drawer and pulled out two t-shirts. She gave Helena the least worn-out shirt.

"Thank you. I suppose I'll go and change, then." Helena nodded her head towards the door and turned to leave. Myka assumed she was heading for the bathroom and thought of something else.

"Oh, wait!" She followed Helena out of the room and then rushed around her to the hall closet. She found the extra toothbrushes inside and handed one to Helena. "You might need this, too."

"You're quite prepared for guests," Helena said.

"My mom is," Myka said with a shrug.

"I shall return." Helena smiled and walked down the hall to the bathroom.

Myka stood in the hall for another moment and then walked back into her room. She picked up her pajamas off the bed and glanced around. She always changed in her room, but tonight she felt a pressure to change in the bathroom after Helena was done. But that would be an obvious change from routine and weird, right?

She should have time to change before Helena got back. Myka shut the door but panicked over whether to lock it or not. _Just hurry!_ She left it unlocked and changed her clothes as quickly as she could. She put her dirty clothes in the laundry basket serving as a hamper and took care to keep anything embarrassing deeply hidden inside. Then, she took a step back. Had Helena seen the laundry basket yet? It was tucked between the bookshelf and the head of Myka's bed. It wouldn't have been within Helena's line of sight while they had played Scrabble, but she had looked around earlier when Myka had been detained by her mom.

Myka chose to believe Helena hadn't seen the laundry basket and draped a partially unfolded blanket over it. She thought unfolding the blanket completely would make it too obvious that she was hiding something. It looked less suspicious only half unfolded, like the blanket was supposed to be there. Or so she hoped.

A soft knock at the door made Myka jump.

"You can come in. It's okay."

Helena entered the room, closing the door behind her. She set her shoes by the side of the door. Then, clothes in hand, she turned to Myka. "Where..."

"Oh! Um, desk," Myka indicated. "The desk is fine." Helena placed her stack of clothes on the corner of the desk, and Myka scooted further away. She realized she had her hand on the back of her neck and dropped it to cross her arms across her chest. She eyed the grey fencing t-shirt and blue sweatpants Helena now wore. It was strange how different her clothes looked on Helena.

Helena faced her again. "Do you need the loo?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah." Myka bolted out of the room, somehow managing to smack her leg on the frame of her bed despite moving away from the bed. She winced once she was in the hallway. Stupid bed. Her room was too small.

She tried to calm down as she brushed her teeth. Her heart had been racing since the subject of going to bed had been brought up. There was no reason to be nervous. They would just be sleeping. A mutual repose.

She took a deep breath and rinsed off her toothbrush. She could do this.

After taking out her contacts, Myka crept carefully down the dark and now blurry hallway. She didn't want to wake up her parents by walking into a wall. Inside her room, she tried not to squint. She could make out Helena sitting on the bed, but not much else. She regretted not wearing her glasses a little, but reminded herself it was easier to hide clumsiness than giant, dorky glasses.

"I think it would work best if we shared the bed," Helena said.

Myka blinked, not that it helped her understand the sudden declaration. Or see. "What?"

"For tonight's sleeping arrangements," Helena said. "It would be easiest if we shared the bed. I promise I won't take up much room."

Right. Sleeping arrangements. That Myka had conveniently shoved away and then managed to forget about completely in her stress over pajamas and glasses. "Um.. yeah. Sure, if you're okay with that. Because you can have the bed all to yourself, if you want."

"No, that's not-"

"I can sleep on the floor."

"Myka, it's your room." Helena moved her head in a stubborn tilt. "I won't let you sleep on the floor of your own room."

"Okay," Myka said. Her fingers twisted around each other, and she clenched them tight to stop them. "Which side do you want, then?"

"Doesn't matter."

Myka decided she'd take the wall, then, believing it would be easier to make herself small if she tucked up against the wall. They separated out the pillows and pulled back the covers. Myka wasn't sure if Helena was a blanket hog - for that matter, she wasn't sure if _she_ was a blanket hog - but thought they'd get too hot if they started out with extra blankets. She set the pile of blankets on the floor by the bed where they'd be easy to reach if one of them got cold during the night. When they were ready, Myka switched off the light, and they both settled under the covers.

"Good night," Myka said.

"Good night."

* * *

The street lamp shone down the alley and into Myka's window, spreading a dim orange glow through part of her room. Myka didn't know what time it was. She'd have to lift her head to find the clock, and she didn't want to risk it. Helena had been quiet for a while, and Myka thought she was asleep.

Her arm felt numb. What had started as a comfortable position had transitioned into her head feeling like a rock crushing her arm. _And this is why I sleep with two pillows._ Maybe she should have tracked down more pillows from her mother.

"Are you still awake?" Helena murmured. Myka gave a start and then cringed. She didn't notice. That didn't happen. And if she lay very silent and didn't move again, Helena would believe she was asleep. Myka even stopped breathing to help the illusion, but Helena rolled over anyway.

"Just as I suspected," she said. Most of her smirk was visible in the streetlight.

Myka released her breath and tried to cover her embarrassment by shutting her eyes and pressing her face further into the pillow. "I was asleep."

"Liar."

"You woke me up." Myka huffed and lifted her head up to settle back on the pillow normally. She kept her eyes shut like she was falling asleep. A few seconds later, she felt something trail across her nose. Her eyes flew open and she pulled back to find Helena's finger hovering in front of her face.

"Don't tickle me!"

"I wasn't tickling you."

"Poking me, then."

"I wasn't poking you, either." Helena scrunched up her nose. "I can see why you lost in Scrabble. Your vocabulary skills are atrocious."

Myka reached out and shoved Helena's shoulder. "It's the middle of the night!"

"I think we're closer to morning, actually." Myka pushed herself up on her arm to check the fuzzy red lines on her clock. "And I'm not sure how it excuses your tickling accusations.

"It's two," she said, collapsing back to the bed. "It's late. My brain doesn't function when it's late." She glared with the one eye that wasn't pressed to the pillow. "And you were tickling me."

Helena smiled. "My apologies. I was bored."

"Mmm," Myka groaned and pushed her face into her pillow again. Bored. It was like falling asleep with Pete in the bed.

"But you were already awake."

Myka didn't move immediately.

"That's my fault."

Myka was the frustrating combination of sleepy and wired that prevented clear thoughts, but she was pretty sure Helena had just blamed herself for Myka not being able to fall asleep. Which was weird and backwards from Myka pretending that Helena had woken her up.

She rolled back to her side to face Helena properly. "What do you mean it's your fault?"

"I'm the intruder. The one interfering with your routine and keeping you from falling asleep."

Myka frowned. "But… I asked you to stay the night."

"Doesn't mean I'm not an intruder."

Myka held her frown, blinking and trying to wrap her mind around this conflict. She decided she was too tired to tackle it and countered with another observation. "You're still awake too."

"That's different," Helena said. "I'm always up this late."

"Why?" Myka asked. "Is it because of the time difference from London?"

Helena shook her head. "No. In London, I stayed up this late, too."

"Why?"

"It was easier, I suppose." Helena smiled and shrugged like always staying up so late was no big deal, but Myka didn't understand it.

"Easier how?"

"It simply was." Helena rolled over to her back, and Myka felt more pressed to the wall. "There isn't a lot of time to oneself at boarding school."

She never seemed happy when she spoke of her previous school. Myka considered this for a moment. "Why did you go?" Helena didn't immediately answer, so Myka asked a more specific question. "Are boarding schools more common in England?"

Helena frowned. "I couldn't say."

"Was it supposed to be a better school?" Myka recalled the math and science academy in Illinois that had looked enticing her freshman year, though she'd never brought the flyer home. Sometimes, she still imagined what attending that school would've been like.

Helena might have rolled her eyes, but the shadows cloaked it. "So the administration claimed. But in my experience, they're not very superior to public schools."

"Oh." Myka waited, but Helena didn't explain any further. She asked again, "Then, why did you go?"

Helena's eyes were downcast as she fiddled with the TiMER on her wrist. "Because my parents forced me."

Myka's stomach sunk. She paired Helena's body language with their conversations from the library and drew a conclusion. "Because they didn't want you at home."

Helena smirked, but Myka didn't think it looked real. "They've never wanted me home. But then, they hated when I was out, too. It was a paradox they thought boarding school would solve. It didn't."

"And now you're here," Myka said softly.

"Now, I'm here."

She looked sad, but between the strange lighting and Helena staring down at her hands, it was difficult for Myka to tell. Still, she reached over to where Helena fidgeted with the TiMER and placed her hand over Helena's. Helena tilted her head towards her in question, and Myka smiled.

"I'm glad you're here."

Helena raised her eyebrow. "Are you?"

"Yeah," Myka nodded. The situation felt awkward, though. Exposed. She squeezed Helena's hand and then pulled back to her edge of the bed.

"You're awfully uncomfortable for being glad I'm here."

"No, I'm not." Okay, she was. "That isn't... it doesn't... I'm just nervous." She resisted the urge to hide her face in the pillow again or to turn away.

"You're glad I'm here even though I make you nervous?" Helena shifted to her side and propped her head up on her hand.

"_You_ don't make me nervous," Myka said. "The whole situation makes me nervous."

"The situation of our TiMER match?" Helena asked. "Or the more immediate situation of us sharing a bed?"

"The TiMER match." Myka pretended it was the obvious answer and rolled her eyes.

"Good," Helena said. "Because there's nothing to be nervous about sharing your bed with me." She didn't drop her voice, didn't inflect some teasing tone Myka could brush off, and maybe that was the problem. Maybe it was the matter-of-fact way she spoke that stopped Myka's breath.

"Okay," Myka managed to say. Helena smiled like she knew Myka's nerves had increased tenfold. She reached her hand out and slipped it in Myka's curls. Her eyes flashed in the streetlight.

"I promise I'll behave."

There was the teasing tone, the lifeline Myka could latch on to and use to catch her breath.

"Right," she snorted and pushed Helena's hand away. "You behave?"

"I am! I'm perfectly capable of behaving myself."

Myka scoffed again. She was grinning and ready to fire back a retort when she realized she didn't have one. Her brain came up empty. She could list over a dozen comebacks she could have used against Pete, she even had a handful for Claudia, but she had nothing for Helena. She just had a vague suspicion that Helena got in trouble more often than not. But where had she gotten that impression from?

"Hey, why did your parents send you all the way to Colorado? Why didn't they keep you at boarding school?"

Helena looked confused. Myka had switched topics suddenly. "I thought we already discussed that tonight."

And now she felt guilty for bringing it up again. "No, I didn't mean..." She raised herself up on her arm to match Helena. "I just wondered why Colorado? I don't understand how you wound up here of all places."

"Oh. I'm not sure." Helena shook her head. "Honestly, I have no idea how they chose to send me here. Other than my uncle lives here, but he isn't even my real uncle. He's a much more distant relative." She paused. "So distant, I only heard rumors because of how eccentric he is. Perhaps, he was the bane of his parents' existence too, and that's why they've sent me to him. Discard all the black spots on the family tree in one place."

Myka swallowed. That couldn't be true. She couldn't accept that to be true, and she wished she hadn't brought the subject up. "I'm sorry I keep prying."

"It comes with the TiMER, I think: the right to pry." The unhappiness cleared from Helena's face, and she was back to her usual front of self-assurance. ""Which I believe makes it my turn to ask questions."

Uh oh. "What kind of questions?"

"Don't fret, we'll start with the easy ones."

Myka's arm was sore from propping herself up, but there wasn't room on the twin bed to sit up any differently.

"How long have you lived above a bookstore?"

"Um.." Myka thought, "since I was about four." If she pulled her legs tight to her chest, she should be able to sit with her back against the window and wall. She pushed herself up to try, and Helena moved to sit up, too.

"Four? So you've lived here practically your entire life?"

"Yeah," Myka said. She wrapped her arms around her knees, but still her shins rested against Helena's legs.

"It's like a story in itself," Helena said. "The Girl Who Lived in the Bookstore."

"I don't live in the bookstore. My dad has strict rules about when we can be downstairs."

"Oh, now that suggests you've tried."

"No! Not living there." Helena grinned at her protests. "Okay, sometimes I would sneak down to read a book I didn't own, and my dad would be furious. It didn't last long."

"It didn't last long or you became better at sneaking and he stopped catching you?"

"No," Myka shook her head. "I didn't get better at sneaking around. I just started using the library or buying the book I wanted with my allowance."

"Hmm, sneaking is more fun." Helena stretched her legs out further and leaned her arms back on the pillow behind her.

"Not when my dad catches you." Myka stared at where her feet were overlapped by Helena's legs. Her bed was way tinier than she remembered.

"Alright, my second question." Myka was skeptical about the way Helena counted questions. "How long has your family ran the bookstore?"

"Since I was four," Myka said. "Now who's repeating questions." She flexed her foot to nudge Helena. For some reason, Helena looked confused by her answer.

"You mean your grandfather didn't found it?"

Myka frowned. "Why would you think my grandfather founded it?"

"Because of the name Bering and Sons. I thought your father was the son who took over the store."

Oh. Myka didn't have a response.

"If that isn't the case, why is the store named that?"

_Breathe. Just breathe._ "Um." Myka swallowed and ran her hand through her hair. "It's just a name. Just something my father picked. He thought it would sound classier. Or something, I don't know." Her throat was tight, and the clock said it was after three. She was tired. "You know, it's pretty late. We should really try and sleep." She lay down and twisted around so she was on her side facing the wall. Her eyes burned, and she didn't want to face Helena.

The room was quiet. Helena didn't move for so long that Myka could almost convince herself she was alone. Then, the bed shifted, and Myka felt her hair being pushed away from her shoulder. She tensed up. She sensed Helena lean close and place a soft kiss on the base of her neck.

"I'm beginning to see why we were matched," Helena whispered. More shifting as she settled back onto the bed. "Good night, Myka."

It was a while before Myka could speak again. "Good night."


End file.
